


Do I Wanna Know?

by TheHood13



Series: Destined for Redemption [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dating, Detective Oliver Queen, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Oliver Queen Sings, Parent Oliver Queen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 34,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28875669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHood13/pseuds/TheHood13
Summary: Oliver Queen and Kara Danvers both haven’t been in a relationship in over two years, and neither really plan on getting into one any time soon. Meeting again at Barry's 30th birthday celebration, what follows is the most unexpected flirty conversation with each other.After more thought and deliberation, they decide to take a chance on one another and begin dating. But as always for the two of them, not everything will be smooth sailing.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Oliver Queen, Oliver Queen/Kara Zor-El
Series: Destined for Redemption [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2117607
Comments: 32
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is part two of the series that takes place in the world where Oliver lost his team to the explosions on Lian Yu in 2017. This story is a "prequel" to the first one, When Destiny Calls. It's not necessary to read that story before this one (although I recommend it, especially if you liked The Dark Knight Rises. Sorry for the shameless self-plug XD). 
> 
> All the context that you need is that Oliver's entire team died with the exception of Diggle, Thea and Quentin. He stopped being the Green Arrow thereafter due to his grief and guilt. This story will be quite light and humourous in tone with minimal action, dealing with Oliver and Kara as they start dating. Here's the first chapter, enjoy :)

**[JUNE 28 – 2019]**

**[EARTH-01]**

“God help me.”

Oliver Queen muttered the words under his breath as he stared down the enormous stack of papers on his desk. Having given Quentin the day off, Oliver was now truly appreciating how much the man helped him as his deputy mayor. In the age of technological advancement, the majority of bill documents and files were all digital and could be found in an instant with a search button. But every now and then, when there was a particular file needed that did not have a digital copy, it was Quentin who usually sifted through the mess to find it. Today, it was Oliver’s turn to do the dirty work.

_Is this what my life has come to?_

Oliver asked himself this question as he began to peruse each page of every file. Five years in hell and five more as a vigilante, ten years of living almost every day of your life with an adrenaline rush so intense that it was perceivable through all five of your senses. And now, he was sitting in a mayoral office, sifting through paperwork.

Despite having not experienced that unforgettable rush in a year and a half, Oliver didn’t crave it or miss it. Not one bit. Or at least that’s what he told himself. The last time he had a green hood over his head was when he had to save his planet and Kara Danvers from their evil Nazi doppelgangers. Had the Earth-X inhabitants not showed up, his time without the hood would be over two years now.

The hood didn’t matter to him anymore. He knew that even if he wanted to, he couldn’t bring himself to don it again. Not after what had happened to his team.

Plus, the man in the hood wasn’t needed anymore. Rather, a man in a suit was. With the Green Arrow gone, Oliver devoted all of his time into being the mayor when he wasn’t being a father to William. Oliver and Quentin’s dedication and stubbornness were reaping the rewards as they were now starting to show real progress. Crime was slowly declining, and the corrupt were starting to pack their bags and run away with their tails between their legs. With Thea and Walter Steele at the helm of Queen Industries’, they also provided a lot of support, using their resources wisely to help clean up the city.

It had taken a while for the rewards to start showing, for a number of reasons. There was an immediate crime spike with the absence of vigilantes in the city, and ridding a place like Star City of corruption and indecency, issues which had presided for years, could not be done quickly. But the snowball had just begun rolling. Oliver’s department was making an impact, and the more they continued to work, the closer and closer they were getting to making Star City a better place. The biggest hurdle in front of him right now was finding an SCPD Captain willing to take on the issues plaguing the force. The previous Captain had just resigned, citing burnout. A driven Captain with immense fortitude was going to be needed, and Oliver had yet to find a suitable candidate.

30 minutes later, Oliver finally found the document he was looking for. He began reading through it before his concentration was interrupted by a strong gust of wind, causing the stack in front of him to fly up into all directions and scatter around his office. Luckily, Oliver’s firm grip kept the file in his hand.

He slowly raised his eyes towards the man standing a few feet away from his desk. He could not stop his stoic expression from turning into a smile when he saw the apologetic look on Barry Allen’s face.

“Can’t you just come in like a normal person?” joked Oliver.

“Sorry,” replied Barry sheepishly, running his hand through his hair while noting the hundreds of pages that had just scattered around the office.

“Good to see you, Barry,” said Oliver, as he placed the paper back on the desk while rising from the chair.

“Good to see you too,” replied Barry, smiling as he shook hands with his mentor and one of his closest friends.

“To what do I owe this visit?” asked Oliver.

“I just came by to remind you. You know, about the birthday party tonight?” replied Barry.

“Right, of course,” replied Oliver, having not forgotten that Iris turned 30 on Monday and that the party was today. With Barry having been tied up with Cicada and Thawne, he hadn’t had the chance to properly celebrate his birthday a couple of months earlier, so tonight was going to be a double celebration in a way. “I’m sure a phone call would’ve sufficed.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been trying to hit you up for the past hour. Thought I’d just pop by and see if everything was alright.”

Oliver pulled out his phone, seeing the four missed calls from Barry.

“Sorry, it was on silent,” said Oliver, “You could’ve just phoned my office.”

“I… did not think of that,” replied Barry, causing Oliver to chuckle, before returning to his desk, “Is Thea coming?”

“Probably not. She’s tied up with a lot of work, CEO of Queen Industries and all.”

“Oh, okay, sure. The invitation is still ‘plus one’ though, so… is there someone else you’d like to bring? Anyone?” asked Barry. Oliver met Barry’s gaze and studied his expression, immediately understanding what he was really asking.

“No. No one,” he replied bleakly, immediately dulling Barry’s hope.

“Absolutely no one?”

“Absolutely no one,” repeated Oliver.

“It would be pretty cool though, you know… if you did have someone…”

“Well, I don’t Barry, so it’ll just be me,” replied Oliver bluntly.

“Alright then. I guess I’ll see you tonight.”

“Woah, woah, wait!” exclaimed Oliver just before Barry was about zip away, “You can’t leave my office like this,” said Oliver, as he raised his hands towards the scattered carnage of papers.

“Oh, right.” After another gust of wind, Oliver’s office was spick and span, with the documents now back on his desk in a neat pile.

“Thank you,” said Oliver politely, receiving a smile from Barry, who then sped away.

As Oliver started to wonder about why Barry would ask him that question, he immediately found himself having received his answer. Barry was of course asking Oliver about his love life. One would think that there wasn’t much to ask about it, since it didn’t exist, but that’s precisely what Barry was referring to.

Oliver hasn’t been in a truly committed relationship in three years now, not since Felicity. Susan Williams was short-lived, and then just when he and Felicity seemed to have figured it out… Adrian Chase happened. The island happened. In the two years since that day, he hasn’t even entertained the thought of being with someone else. In the past, he believed he couldn’t be the Green Arrow and be with someone at the same time, and he was right. The two women in his life who he had loved the most had died because of his failures, and even though he wasn’t the Green Arrow anymore, he couldn’t rid himself of that dreadful thought…

_Bad things happen to the people I love._

He reminded himself of this over and over again. Perhaps one day, he would finally drop the weight of this guilt, and learn to love again. But that day, it wasn’t going to come anytime soon.

* * *

**[EARTH-38]**

“Pumpkin spice latte for me, please. Thanks.” Kara handed her menu back to the waitress before turning her attention back to Alex, who was seated opposite her in Noonan’s. Looking at her sister, Kara recognised the all too familiar look of exhaustion she wore, that same look being the one that Kara also often saw in the mirror as of late. It was far less a physical exhaustion and more a mental and emotional one. To say the past few months had been hectic would be a massive understatement.

Dealing with everything surrounding the Children of Liberty, Lockwood and Lex, the past year had easily been the most stressful and overwhelming of both of the Danvers sister’s lives. Since their victory over Lex a month ago, things had eased for them, but they were still busy dealing with the fallout of Lex and Lockwood’s actions. With Kara living her dual life and Alex being the director of the DEO, they both rarely got off-days, so whenever they did, they tried to make the most of them. Right now, having brunch with each other was their way of doing that.

“You look tired,” noted Alex, as she met her sister’s gaze.

“You too,” replied Kara.

“I think we could both use a _long_ vacation,” said Alex, shifting upright in her chair.

“Oh I wish,” replied Kara, “Hey, how are things between you and Kelly?”

“They’re great. In fact, she might even be moving here permanently soon.”

“Really? That’s amazing!”

“Yeah. She’s hoping to get a job with Obsidian North, so… Fingers-crossed.”

“I’m really happy for you, Alex.”

“Thanks. I’m still your plus-one for tonight, right?”

“Yeah. I mean, who else would I be taking?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that new guy at CatCo.”

“Why would I take him?” asked Kara, taking another moment to realise what Alex was really saying. “Alex, you’re really trying to set me up with one of my co-workers?”

“No, of course not. But he is pretty cute though.”

“He is, but not for me.”

“Why not?”

“Alex, you know how many things I need to take into account when considering someone. I can’t just date anyone, I literally need to find the perfect person,” replied Kara, subtlely referring to the issues of her dual identity as well as her Kryptonian physiology.

“But you’re not going to find them unless you start looking for them, Kara. You haven’t been on a date in two years.”

“Alex, single life isn’t just the best life, it’s also the most practical for me. Getting through this past year was hard enough, imagine if I still had to juggle a relationship in between all of that. Now is just not the right time.”

“With our lives, Kara, there’s never going to be a right time. You just have to take a leap of faith and try make it work.”

“I’m more than happy to do that if it’s the right person. And I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but I don’t think they’re showing up anytime soon.”

“You never know,” said Alex optimistically.

They dug into the dozen sticky buns while conversing a bit more, and despite Kara’s best efforts, she couldn’t stop herself from pondering on Alex’s words.

She was right. Kara hadn’t been on a date in two years. Then again, she had good reasons why. As if finding time for a relationship while trying to be Supergirl and a reporter wasn’t hard enough, she didn’t have the luxury of being able to date anyone. Not only would that person have to be aware of her dual identity, but also someone compatible with her physiologically. She is Kryptonian, which almost rules out the possibility of a human partner. She’d already broken four guys’ noses in the past just from kissing, Rao forbid she hurt someone even worse in the event that things go further than kissing.

She couldn’t lie to herself and say that she doesn’t want someone. She does want happiness. She truly wants to find a life partner and maybe raise a family one day, but in her eyes, that day isn’t in the foreseeable future. And above all of that, what has the universe kept reminding her time and time again? Having a lover and being a hero are two vital ingredients for disaster.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara attend the birthday celebration.

Running a little late from the office, Oliver returned to his apartment briefly to freshen up before heading to Central City. Luckily for him, he'd be there instantaneously as soon as he was ready, courtesy of a reprogrammed extrapolator from Cisco that would send him right to Barry and Iris' apartment. He quickly scurried out of his room, greeting William and Raisa in the kitchen before activating the extrapolator.

As soon as he was through the breach and stepped foot into Barry's apartment, he immediately knew that he was the last person to arrive. The West family and Team Flash were all present, while Kara and Alex Danvers were directly on his left, having arrived just before him.

"Hi," said Oliver with an embarrassed smile, facing Alex and Kara. Alex stepped forward to greet him first.

"Oliver, long time no see," she said, as she and Oliver embraced.

"Yeah, it's been a while," replied Oliver, having last seen her and Kara in the Earth-X Crisis over a year and a half ago. "I love what you've done with your hair."

"Thanks."

"Kara," said Oliver, as he then greeted her.

"Hey," she replied.

"How have things been on your Earth?" asked Oliver as they made their way to the others.

"The usual. Putting away bad guys, stopping world-ending events…" replied Kara.

"Well, I can't say the same," replied Oliver, his past 18 months rather being defined by politics and parenting.

Oliver greeted the others before the night was fully underway. Two large cakes were brought out, one for Barry and one for Iris, but much to Oliver's relief, they only sang Happy Birthday once. Champagne bottles were popped, and Oliver treated himself to a single slice of cake. He was never overly cautious about his diet, being blessed with fantastic genetics. In the past, he'd always hear Tommy's complaints about how Oliver could practically eat anything and yet stay in relatively good shape. Still, he preferred to stay away from sugary foods, so he stopped at one slice.

Everybody was dressed rather casually, and it was befitting in a way that Oliver and Joe West were the only ones dressed in suits. They both were the oldest men present, and also the only two involved in their city at a high administrative level. For those two reasons, Oliver found himself gravitating to Joe a bit more. On paper, Oliver wasn't that much older than the others, but he had aged far beyond his years. He felt a bit out of place amongst their youthful exuberance, so he stood alone with Joe as they discussed the affairs of their cities.

"Star City is starting to look good, Oliver. You and your department are doing tremendous work," said Joe.

"Thank you, but there is still a lot of work to be done," replied Oliver.

"Oh, there's always work to be done, son. Bottom line is that the future of Star City is looking bright for the first time in years. From what I can see, it seems like the public is starting to have real faith in the police department once again."

"Yeah, but that's not going to last long unless we fully weed out the years of corruption and inadequacy across the board. Our Captain just resigned, he couldn't take the heat of addressing those issues to the full extent that we need to."

"Yeah, you're going to need someone stubborn, iron-willed and smart enough for that. You got any promising candidates?"

"Not really."

"I remember this one guy… He was a Lieutenant from the SCPD, a Texan. He came over to our department for some seminars a few years ago. He was good, knew his stuff. Smart, disciplined, I was surprised he wasn't a Captain. You know who I'm talking about?" asked Joe.

Oliver shook his head. "No, maybe Quentin will."

"Sorry, I can't remember his name. If I do, I'll let you know. Maybe check if he's still at the SCPD and willing to help."

"Sure, I'll look into it. Thank you," replied Oliver gratefully. Joe was then called away by Cecille, and Oliver stood by himself for a while, sipping on his champagne while deep in thought.

* * *

As the festivities of the evening continued, Kara veered away from her mingling with Iris and Alex, steering herself back to the champagne bottles and refilling her glass, her third of the evening. She enjoyed the taste of the brand very much, and with no risk of her getting drunk, she could help herself to as many glasses as she wanted. Of course, she restrained herself, just like with the cake, to make sure there was enough for everybody. She sipped as she scanned the space. Everybody was having fun, sharing funny stories and joking around. With their particular line of work, there was never really much time to ever just sit back and enjoy themselves. There was always another supervillain or bank robbery that they had to stop. A night like this would be normal for a civilian, but it was a rare occurrence for them.

Kara thought she was the only one separated from the others, but as she scanned the whole apartment, she spotted Oliver Queen by the kitchen island, sipping on his glass of champagne by himself too. The last time she'd seen him was when they fought their Earth-X doppelgangers. But it wasn't just as simple as that. He saved her life. After what had happened to him, Kara could understand why he gave up the hood. Truthfully, she herself didn't think that she would be able to continue being a hero if Alex, J'onn, Brainy and Nia all perished in some horrific accident. Yet, he still donned the hood once more to save her. That alone spoke a true testament to the man that he was. She remembered thanking him profusely, but he attempted to brush it off as if it was his obligation. That was their last interaction.

It was such a weird situation for her too. At the time, she was still grieving for Mon-El, and then she had to witness her doppelganger being married to Oliver's doppelganger. Up until that point, she'd never even considered the possibility of being in a relationship with Oliver. That day, for a few split-seconds, she imagined what a relationship with Oliver would be like. A few split-seconds were all she needed to shun the idea. Of course, she found him very attractive and needless to say, a good man. But also, damaged. Kara acknowledged that in some ways, she is too, but Oliver had gone through far too much to be considered a healthy life partner.

Watching him now, Kara realised that these few things were all she could say about him. She barely knew the man at all, which was so strange considering the fact that they called each other friends and that he'd risked his life to save hers. Seeing Oliver Queen stand by himself, deep in thought, Kara decided to throw caution to the wind. What would be the harm in just having a conversation with him? Perhaps by the end of the evening, she would know him a bit better, and she'd feel less guilty about her lack of knowledge about him. She took another sip before approaching him.

"Hey," said Kara, as she approached him. He hadn't seen her walk up, and he turned his head towards her.

"Oh, hi," he replied, surprised.

"Enjoying the evening?" asked Kara.

"Yeah, it's great. You?" he replied.

"Oh yeah. I haven't had time to just kick back and relax like this in months."

"Things have been that hectic on your Earth?" asked Oliver, picking up on the slight exhaustion in her voice.

"Yeah. My cousin left Earth for a while, so I had to deal with his nemesis."

"Lex Luthor?"

"Yeah. Do you know about him?" asked Kara, slightly surprised at Oliver's knowledge of Lex.

"I've heard of him." The few seconds of silence that followed made Kara realise that she was going to have to lead the conversation.

"What about you? How's the whole mayor gig working out for you?" she asked.

"Well, it's a lot of work, but I have the right help. We're starting to make good progress on cleaning up the city."

"That's good to hear. How's your son? William, right?" asked Kara.

"Yeah. He's a wonderful kid, I love him to death. But he is also a teenager," replied Oliver, causing Kara to chuckle.

"Why do you make it sound like raising a teenager is harder than being the mayor?" she joked.

"Sometimes it is. He's been through a lot, and you couple that with adolescent angst and puberty… it can be a handful at times."

"I can imagine. Is he now starting to pay more attention to girls than his grades?"

"Oh no, William is not that type of kid," quickly replied Oliver. "His love life is as non-existent as mine," he joked.

"You can add me to that list too," quipped Kara, taking another sip of her drink.

"Really? That's strange," said Oliver, his words puzzling Kara.

"Uhh, what?" she replied, almost spitting out her drink.

"I mean, it's just a little hard to believe. You're young, and funny, and attractive. I just find it hard to believe that guys aren't falling head over heels for you." A couple of seconds after the words left his mouth, Oliver fully realised what he'd just done. Did he actually just flirt with Supergirl?

At the same time, Kara stared wide-eyed back at Oliver, still trying to process what had just happened. Did Oliver Queen actually just flirt with her? As surely as he wasn't thinking when he said his words, neither did she when she replied.

"Well, I could say the same about you," replied Kara.

"What?" replied Oliver, in a nearly identical manner to her earlier.

"I mean, you're tall, and charming, and handsome. I'm surprised that you're still single too." Kara took another sip as she stared at Oliver, unable to hide her amusement at his puzzled face. They were both playing the game now.

"I have my reasons," replied Oliver with a bewildered smile, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"Okay… Well, I've been really busy as Supergirl, and then trying to balance that with my life as a reporter, I guess I just haven't had the time for someone… And if I did, I'd have to find the right person, you know, with my secret identity and everything. Your turn."

"It sounds like we mostly have the same problems. I've been busy being the mayor and being there for William. But also when you're the mayor and you're Oliver Queen, a lot of people just want to know you and be around you because of your name or your reputation. It's hard to find someone who wants to be with you just because you're… you. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm sure the right person will come along eventually," replied Kara.

"For you and me both," replied Oliver, and he and Kara made eye contact and shared a smile.

* * *

In the place that she least expected it to, Alex's interrogation training kicked in. For several seconds she kept her eyes on Oliver and Kara, studying their body language and facial expressions from across the other side of the room. No way this was happening…

"Psst! Barry!" she said, catching his attention. He was confused when she gestured for him to come closer, but he did nonetheless.

"What's going on?" he asked, finished his words just as Alex turned him to face in Oliver and Kara's direction.

"Look."

"Yes, I can see that Oliver and Kara are having a conversation," replied Barry sarcastically.

"No, look closer!" urged Alex. Barry heeded her request, and after a few seconds, a look of shock formed on his face too. "You seeing what I'm seeing?" asked Alex.

"You've got to be kidding me."

* * *

"Don't take this personally, but it's still weird for me to imagine you as a mayor," remarked Kara.

"Why is that?"

"You just really never seemed like a politician to me," she replied.

"Controversial, shady past, habitual liar… I think I fit the bill pretty well," joked Oliver.

"There's still a lot of differences between you and most politicians."

"Such as?"

"You actually follow through on your promises and get things done," replied Kara. Oliver didn't know how to reply, simply smiling before taking another swig of his drink. He changed the topic.

"I'm really digging how you tie your hair now."

"Thanks," replied Kara.

"Other than that, you pretty much look exactly the same as you did a year and a half ago. Do you not age?"

"Because of my powers, not really."

"So you're going to look like this for…"

"Decades. You've aged pretty well yourself. How old are you now?"

"35."

"I'd have guessed 31."

"Give me a couple of more years in office. I'll have more greys than Killer Frost."

Kara laughed. "No, if you haven't gotten greys by now, I think it'll still be a while before they start popping up."

"Thea says I'm still beginning to look like a middle-aged dad."

"Not at all, you're still…" Kara's eyes ran down his body. He was still in exceptional physical condition, "In great shape."

Oliver immediately realised that she checked him out, chuckling. "Thanks, I guess," he said. "To be fair, I have started to make a lot of dad jokes now. Just to annoy William and Thea."

"Tell me one," she requested.

"How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?"

"Ten tickles. I've heard that one before," she replied, unimpressed.

"Okay, umm… I don't trust stairs. Why? Because they're always up to something."

Kara's lips tightened as she tried to hold in her laugh, but she couldn't. "Okay, that's a good one."

"I have more, if you'd like," offered Oliver.

"Please no, I don't think I can handle another."

"Alright, I'll stop."

* * *

As the evening came to an end, Alex and Kara readied themselves to leave and began greeting everybody. Kara greeted Oliver last, hugging him.

"It was kinda fun talking with you," said Kara.

"Yeah, it was great," replied Oliver. "So I guess I'll see you the next time you come to Earth-1?"

"Hopefully it won't be another year and a half before that."

"Yeah, sure," replied Oliver with a smile, before Kara stepped away and activated her extrapolator to take her back to her Earth. Within a second, she was gone, and Oliver readied himself to greet everybody before he too left. However, he was confronted by Barry, who supersped over to him.

"Oliver, can I speak to you for a second?" asked Barry, almost swallowing his words.

Oliver was slightly startled by Barry's eagerness. "Uhh… yeah, sure." Oliver could barely finish his words before he was shooed out on to the balcony by Barry, who quickly closed the door behind them.

Barry paused for a moment to try to calm his excitement, but that didn't help as he immediately began speaking like an energised puppy. "Oliver… You and Kara? You and Kara?! What was that?"

"What was that?" repeated Oliver slowly in confusion.

"Yeah, what was that?!"

Oliver paused for a few moments. "A conversation?" he replied hesitantly, not knowing if that was the answer that Barry was looking for.

"Yeah, a very _flirty_ conversation."

Oliver chuckled. "Barry, we were not flirting."

"Dude, it was blatant!"

"Barry, just because two attractive people are having a conversation, that doesn't mean that they're flirting with each other."

"So you think she's attractive?" asked Barry with wide eyes.

Oliver was almost flabbergasted at Barry's reactions. "What the… I'm not blind, Barry. She is very attractive and like I said, when two attractive people speak to each other…"

Barry cut off Oliver. "Okay, first of all, stop shamelessly complimenting yourself like that, and secondly, just confess dude. I know what I saw."

Oliver sighed. "Okay, we flirted a little bit. Just a little!"

"Damn, man. Just hours after I tell you to get back in the game, you start by going after Supergirl. You either go big or go home."

"Okay, that's enough," replied Oliver, grinning a little. "Yes, we spoke, and we flirted with each other but that's it. Nothing more."

"Not even thinking of anything more?" asked Barry, much to Oliver's dismay.

"Barry… She is a superpowered, invulnerable alien that lives in another universe."

"Yeah, so what? Never been in a long-distance relationship before?" replied Barry dismissively.

"This isn't long-distance, Barry, this is inter-dimensional!"

"So you've thought about what going out with her would entail?"

Oliver brought his hands up to his face in despair. There was no winning with Barry. "I really want to punch you in the face right now," he replied.

"Please don't do that," replied Barry, having finally calmed down a bit. "Look, I'm sorry for getting excited and overwhelming you, but man, I just haven't seen you like that in years. You deserve that happiness."

"I am perfectly happy by myself."

"That's good, but what's the harm in talking to her again? I'm not saying you two should like start dating, but… you should go on a date with her."

"I'm not going to date Kara, Barry."

"Just one date?" asked Barry, almost pleading with his friend.

"Kara is my friend. What if the date goes horribly wrong and things are permanently awkward between us?"

"She lives in another dimension, so you'd actually have a great chance of never having to see her again."

"That's a good point," conceded Oliver.

"Look man, my point isn't even about Kara, it's about you. Even if you decide to not go further with her, maybe this is the moment which you needed to show you that you should start looking for someone again. Think about it, please. That's all I'm asking."

"Okay, I will."

"Especially about Kara?" requested Barry.

"Especially about Kara," repeated Oliver.

"Great," replied Barry, smiling at his friend before finally letting him step back into the apartment and head home.

* * *

"That was fun," said Kara, immediately as she stepped foot in her apartment.

"Yeah…" said Alex, dragging the word while she eyed Kara down. Kara was oblivious to Alex's glare, as she kicked off her shoes before heading to her kitchen island to pour herself a glass of water. It was only after a few seconds that she realised that Alex was staring a hole through her.

"What?" she asked, as she met her sister's gaze. "Is something wrong?"

"No," replied Alex, as she moved to the kitchen island without taking her eyes off Kara.

"Stop looking at me like that," said Kara, becoming unnerved by Alex's glare.

"Spill."

Kara was confused by Alex's request. "Spill what?"

"Spill the beans."

"I don't have any beans."

"It's an expression, Kara."

"Yeah I know, I figuratively don't have any beans."

"Spill the beans on you and Oliver," demanded Alex.

"What about Oliver and I? We were just talking to one another," replied Kara innocently.

"Six years a DEO agent, nearly a year as Director. I have become quite adept at reading body language and facial expressions. I can tell the difference between a normal conversation, and a _flirty_ conversation," said Alex, as she finally cracked a smile.

"Alex, we weren't…" Kara's words trailed off as Alex stared at her unconvincingly, causing Kara just decided to come clean, "Okay, yeah, maybe a little."

"Oh my gosh," said Alex, shaking her head in disbelief, "So what did he say?"

"I made some comment about not having a love-life and he said he found that hard to believe because I'm very attractive and funny."

"How did you reply?"

"I said the same thing right back, I said he should have a love-life too because he's charming and handsome."

"Oh, you did not!"

"Yeah, I did. It was all I could think of in the moment."

"And then?"

"Then we just talked for a bit more-"

Alex interjected. "Flirted more."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Yes, flirted a bit more, and then the evening came to an end."

"So now?"

"So now what?"

"You seemed to have a nice conversation with him, so… why not have another? Perhaps over a drink, or dinner?"

"Alex, I'm not going to go out with Oliver just because he flirted with me."

"Hey, you summed it up yourself. He's nice, charming, handsome and also, trustworthy."

"He also lives on another Earth, is a human, has a past reputation as a playboy and is unbelievably damaged."

"Gosh, way to put him down as soon as you're no longer in his presence," remarked Alex.

"Hey, I'm just being honest."

"Come on, Kara, don't be so harsh on him. He seems to be in a much better place now than when we last saw him."

"Yeah, speaking of the last time that we saw him, we were fighting our Nazi doppelgangers who were married. You know I'm not all that superstitious or anything like that, but the fact that the only reference point for a potential relationship between us are our evil Nazi selves intent on multiversal domination? That seems like a bad omen to me."

"Kara, you are overthinking this and being overly judgemental."

"Am I, Alex?"

"Okay, you are right about him being human and from another Earth. Those are big obstacles, but he stopped being a playboy years ago, and you say he's damaged? We all carry baggage, Kara."

"What Oliver has been through is more than just 'baggage'. I don't think anybody could ever fully recover from what's happened to him over the years. And the last thing that I need is to be in a relationship with a broken man who 'needs fixing'."

"That's true, but you're not giving him enough credit for how far he's come. He's no longer the Green Arrow but he's still helping his city as the mayor and also raising a son. I'm not saying you should even be in a relationship with him, but what about a couple of dates? I mean, if they go horribly wrong, then you two have the option of never having to see each other again because you live in different worlds… literally."

"If I'm going to start putting myself out there again, I don't want to waste any time, even just for a couple of dates. I don't think Oliver is the right guy."

"You'll never find out unless you go out with him. I just want the best for you, Kara. That's all," said Alex with an affectionate smile. "Ponder on it a little more. Who knows? Maybe Oliver Queen is the person you need in your life right now."

And even though Kara doubted that, she heeded her sister's request and gave plenty of more thought to the prospect of a couple of dates with Oliver.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara ponder more about the prospect of dating each other before coming to a conclusion.

Despite the dismissive attitudes that both Kara and Oliver displayed when questioned about their interaction with each other, neither of them found it particularly easy to forget about it over the next two days. Every now and again, their minds would drift until it converged back to a reminder of their conversation, and they’d spend a few minutes thinking more on it before snapping back to their current situation. Oliver more so than Kara, as he sometimes found himself reading a document only for him not to register the words in front of him because his mind was still hovering on that night.

They both shared similar concerns over what anything between them would entail. The most obvious one was them being from different universes. They both had busy and complicated lives, and while hopping back and forth between dimensions might not seem so strenuous right now, it definitely could become a huge hurdle in the future.

Then came the issue of Kara being Kryptonian, and while that definitely was a thought on Oliver’s mind, it was a far bigger concern for her than him. A relationship with a human for her is, to say the least, problematic. While only four of the dozens of noses she’s broken have come from kissing and not punching, that was still four too many. She’s gotten a lot better at controlling herself over the years, but still, what happens if things go further than kissing? Not that she was sure things would go that far with Oliver, but it was still something that she had to take into consideration.

For Oliver, he has the same concerns that everybody has when they let someone into their life. When you meet someone for the first time, no matter who they are, there’s always a honeymoon phase where you both only show what you want the other to see. Everybody has a fear of scaring someone away once they show them their true selves, but for Oliver, that feeling is amplified by a million. All of his wretched deeds done over the years and all of the things he was responsible for, how much of that still tormented him on a daily basis? How much of that could he let Kara know?

He understood that Kara had a tragic background too, but he felt as if Kara had used that pain to create a better world for her loved ones. Her friends and family’s lives were all for sure better with her in them. She had a positive and inspiring impact on others. For Oliver? His best friend lost an arm, his sister broke her spine, becoming a paraplegic and his son’s mother died, all consequences of his own actions. Not to mention the countless others who have died because of his failures.

If there was a spectrum for who they were as people, they’d be on polar opposite sides. They say opposites attract, but how far is too far? Kara is the absolute epitome of a hero. Unrelenting, unwavering, courageous, compassionate, kind… a paragon of hope. Oliver, on the other hand… Sure, he also possessed some of those qualities, but he’s a man filled with darkness. That darkness has been mitigated over the past two years with the absence of the hood, but it could never go away. He’s still riddled with guilt beyond belief, and projecting that guilt onto someone like Kara was the last thing he wanted to do.

But with the obscene amount of reflection that Kara and Oliver both did over the past two days, they also had to take into account the positives and advantages that a relationship between them could possess. Kara didn’t have to worry about her secret identity, since Oliver already knew and she fully trusted him with that knowledge. Both of them knew full well how convoluted and busy their lives could get, so an understanding of that made things a lot easier. They both also had fears that a partner could be used against them or be put in harm’s way because of who they are, but with Kara and Oliver living in different universes, neither would have to worry about an enemy getting to either of them. To that point, even if someone did, they’d probably be in for an ass-kicking of a lifetime, especially if an enemy of Oliver’s tried to trifle with Kara.

And lastly, most importantly, they’d both saved each other’s life before, and that created a bond which is hard to explain to the ordinary person. They already trusted each other with their lives, and if you can trust someone with your life, perhaps there’s a good chance that you can trust them with your heart too.

For that reason, they both threw heavy caution to the wind and decided to take a leap of faith.

Oliver left the office early and returned home. He made his way to the closet in his room and opened the secret latch at the bottom where he kept emergency supplies. Along with cash, burner phones and a 9mm Beretta was also a couple of extrapolators, one of which led to Earth-38. He’d never been there before, but given Kara’s superhuman senses, she’d probably sense his arrival before he even started to look for her.

He moved to the center of his apartment, readying himself to activate the extrapolator and open a breach to Earth-38. Just as he was about to do so, a breach opened up in front of him, not one of his own accord. While he was startled at the advent of the breach, he was even more surprised at the person who hopped through a second later… Kara.

“Oliver,” she said, surprised to see him too.

“Kara?” Oliver replied, dumbfounded. “What’s… what’s going on?”

“I was actually planning to come and see you,” she said.

“That’s funny, I was just about to come and see you,” replied Oliver, as he showed her the extrapolator in his hands.

“Oh. What for?” she asked.

“Uhh, just to…” Oliver’s words trailed off as he saw her gaze shift to behind him. He turned around to see William, standing frozen with his mouth gaping wide open.

“Oh, Kara, this is my son, William,” said Oliver, as he gestured for his son to come forward, “William, this is Kara Danvers. Otherwise known as…”

“Supergirl,” said Kara, finishing Oliver’s sentence as she shook William’s hand.

“Huh… ni-nice to meet you,” stuttered William, star-struck.

“The pleasure is all mine,” said Kara with a smile.

“Buddy, can you give Kara and I a moment please?” requested Oliver.

“Sure,” replied William, as he returned to his room and shut the door. As soon as he was gone, Kara spoke up again.

“Sorry, I didn’t think the extrapolator would bring me right into your apartment,” she said apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s fine.” After a brief moment of silence, they spoke up at the same time.

“So what were you-“ They both said at the same time. “What were you-“

They laughed for a second before Oliver gestured for Kara to speak. “What were you coming to see me for?” she asked.

“Well… I’m going to be honest. I really enjoyed our conversation the other night, and after thinking more on it, I’d like to have another. Maybe… over a drink or dinner?”

“Like a date?” asked Kara.

“Uhm… Yeah, sure, you can- you could, you could call it that,” stammered Oliver, nervously fiddling with the extrapolator in his hand.

“I’d love to. I was coming to ask you the same thing,” replied Kara, astonishing Oliver.

“Really?

“Yeah,” replied Kara enthusiastically, “I guess great minds think alike?”

“I guess.” They both chuckled for a second.

“So, how do we… where should…” stuttered Oliver, unsure of how to approach going out with someone from a different universe.

“Oh, we could do my… Earth or your Earth?”

“I’m the mayor, so I can get us a reservation anywhere in Star City,” suggested Oliver.

“Sure, that’s cool. I’m free tomorrow night, if you’re okay with that?” asked Kara.

“Tomorrow night is good.”

“18:30?”

“18:30,” repeated Oliver, confirming the time.

“Cool… It’s a date,” said Kara.

“It’s a date. See you tomorrow night.”

“Yeah.”

Kara knew Oliver wasn’t much of a hugger, and her clumsiness prevailed as he stuck out a fist. He was more than happy to fist-bump her, as they laughed through the awkwardness before Kara activated her extrapolator and left.

Despite the slight uneasiness of the encounter and his previous concerns over dating Kara, Oliver couldn’t help but pump his fist in the air and break out a wide smile. He heard William’s room door open, seeing his son peek head out.

“You heard all of that, didn’t you?” asked Oliver, with William slyly smirking before shrugging his shoulders.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara go on their first date.

For others, it was a day like any other at CatCo Worldwide Media, but for Kara, she was unable to focus on her work, as she stared at the draft of the article on her laptop in front of her. She was unable to focus on it, being too nervous but also excited about the evening that was to come. Her first date in over two years… with Oliver Queen. The last one she’d been on was with Mon-El, and that rightfully felt like an eternity ago.

She took a bit of solace in the fact that she knew Oliver was likely feeling the same, if not worse. They’d both lost their partners at the same time, but what had happened since almost couldn’t be any different. She almost abandoned her human side, and threw herself fully into being a hero, but Oliver had essentially done the opposite. He traded his Green Arrow suit for a Calvin-Klein two-piece, but she didn’t blame him for that. She at least found some closure with Mon-El. She knows that he’s in the 31st Century, saving lives and being the hero that she always knew he could be. She found peace in that, but peace could Oliver have found in the unjustness of Felicity’s death? None.

She told Nia and J’onn to be extra alert tonight since she wasn’t going to be around. She looked at the time on her watch. 17:58. She’d been at her cubicle the whole day, and decided to leave to get ready for tonight. She closed her laptop before placing it in her bag and making her way to the exit. She ran into James on her way out.

“You’re leaving?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, skipping past him to the elevator.

“Sure. Where are you going with that spring in your step?”

“I have a date.”

“A date?” asked James, shocked. “With who?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” she replied as the elevator doors closed.

Kara flew back to her apartment, arriving within less than 30 seconds. She immediately began picking out outfits for the night. She wanted something semi-casual. She was sure Oliver made a reservation at a fairly high-end place, but she also didn’t want to be overdressed for the occasion either.

After much deliberation and trying on various combinations, she picked out a blue turtleneck with a Burgundy coat and black jeans. Just then did Alex arrive, and she sped over to her sister to ask for her opinion.

“What do you think? Too much?” she asked, gesturing to her dress. Before Alex could get a word in, Kara immediately answered for her. “Too much,” she said in a panic, superspeeding back to her room and looking for another outfit to wear. Alex groaned before running over to her sister’s room.

“No, Kara, you look fine,” she said, as she entered Kara’s room. “Hey, you are worrying too much about this.”

“It’s my first date in two years, Alex. I think I forgot how to do this,” replied Kara.

“Well, if that’s stressing you out, don’t think of it as a date. Just think of it as two adults having dinner to get to know each other better.”

“Alex, that is the literal definition of a date!” exclaimed Kara.

“Okay, two _friends_ having a dinner together,” corrected Alex.

“With romantic implications,” added Kara.

“Kara, listen to me,” said Alex, as she placed her hands on her sister’s shoulder. “You look beautiful. Just be yourself and you are going to be fine. Remember, this is Oliver that we’re talking about. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“If we’re talking about the same Oliver, then a kryptonite arrow through the chest,” replied Kara.

“No, you dummy,” replied Alex, before breaking into a laugh with her sister. “It’ll go great, trust me,” she said, before pulling Kara in for a tight hug. She helped Kara get ready, calming her nerves more before it was time for her to open the breach to Earth-1.

She arrived in Oliver’s apartment precisely one minute early. There was no sight of him, so she assumed he was still getting ready. She heard movement behind her, and turned around to see William on the dining table, busy with a textbook and some notes.

“Hey William,” she said.

“Hey,” he replied. “He’ll be ready in a minute.”

“Okay, cool.” William continued with his work, and Kara noted the veiled frustration on his face. “What are you busy with there?” she asked, as she walked around the table to stand next to him and peer at his notes.

“Math,” he replied.

“Aren’t you on summer break?” asked Kara.

“Yeah, but my geometry grades weren’t so good last semester, so I’m trying to get the hang of this before school starts again.”

Kara sped-red over the problem he was working on, reading what the question was asking before looking at how far he was with it and where he was stuck. She turned the diagram upside down before pointing to two angles in different triangles.

“There,” she said, “These angles are equal, because of those parallel lines.”

“Oh, thanks. Sorry, I kinda suck at geometry.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get better with practice,” she said reassuringly. Just then did Oliver come out from his room, immediately spotting Kara and breaking out a warm, friendly smile.

“Kara,” he said, surprising her as he approached her with open arms.

“Hey,” she replied, as they embraced briefly. “You look good,” she said, complimenting his suit and recognising how his hair and thin beard had been trimmed.

“You too.”

* * *

They greeted William before leaving, as Oliver escorted her downstairs to a car that was already waiting for them. They were taken to the restaurant where they were to have dinner. As expected, Oliver was treated like a special guest by the staff and was cordially greeted as “Mr Mayor” by several other customers. It was a Tuesday night, so the place wasn’t packed, but Oliver still made sure to choose a table far from the other guests.

“You seem nervous,” said Oliver, as they both took a seat at their table.

“Well, this is my first date in two years, so…”

“Afraid it might be awkward?”

“Yep.”

“Don’t worry, I’m in that same boat too.”

“Maybe we can help each other get back into the swing of things,” said Kara cordially.

“Yeah,” replied Oliver with a smile.

“This is quite the place,” remarked Kara, being just as ritzy as she had expected. “Trying to make a good impression?”

“Well, you haven’t been to Star City before, so yeah. But, of course, like any city, there’s the good and the bad, and my job is to get rid of the bad.”

“I wanted to ask you more about that. What’s it actually like being the mayor of Star City?” 

Oliver took a deep breath before replying. “A little boring, to be honest. A lot of city council meetings, paperwork and legislature. Also, unforgiving. The people of Star City are quite… harsh, and untrusting, but not without good reason. This city has been plagued by terrorist attacks, corruption and organized crimes for years. It was quite hard to earn their trust and faith.”

“But you got it, didn’t you?”

“It was difficult, given my past reputation, but I’ve somewhat managed to do it. I’ve had a lot of help, particularly from Quentin, Sara’s father.”

“I’m sure you still had a lot to do with it. I’ve been there for a couple of your inspiring speeches, and I’m just saying, if my mayor spoke like that, I’d vote for him,” she said playfully.

“Well, if there were any reporters like you in Star City, then I’d be giving them exclusives,” he replied, equally playful. “To that point, what does your life as a reporter currently look like?”

“Well, nothing is confirmed yet, but there are rumours that I might be nominated for a Pulitzer.”

“That’s great. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Kara lowered her voice before explaining her piece, making sure that nobody else could hear her. “It was a piece exposing how the president was working with Lex Luthor and fueling anti-alien sentiment across the country. And that’s just oversimplifying it.”

“Wow. That must have been horrible to deal with.”

“By itself. Then I also had another evil doppelganger running around, then Alex lost her memory… Sorry I don’t mean to rant,” said Kara, catching herself and apologising.

“No, no, it’s okay. People like us don’t get to do it that often.”

“But I shouldn’t right now, maybe another time.”

“Sure… My sister lost her memory once too.”

“What happened?”

Oliver lowered his voice too and leaned in. “Well, she got attacked by the leader of the League of Assassins, and then we had to resurrect her. When we did she didn’t remember anything for a while… Yeah.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“She’s okay now. She just got engaged to her boyfriend of almost 7 years. Roy.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. Do you approve of him?”

“Definitely. He’s a very good kid. Used to help me out back in the day with my ‘evening activities’.”

“Nice…” After a moment, Kara grinned and started giggling.

“What?” asked Oliver.

“It’s just… what do normal people talk about on dates? I mean, here we are, talking about resurrections and evil doppelgangers and assassins. This isn’t normal.”

“It is for us,” replied Oliver. “No matter how hard we try to be, we’re not normal people.”

“Do you ever wish we were?” asked Kara earnestly. “With how easy and simple things would be.”

Oliver pondered on her question for a few seconds, thinking back to the dream life that the Dominators showed him.

“Yeah… sometimes.” Kara sensed deceit on the word “sometimes”, and wondered if he actually always wished he had a normal life.

“But like I told Barry once,” continued Oliver, “We’d be happy if we were normal, but we wouldn’t be full.”

Kara acknowledged his words as true with a nod, before they both decided to finally take a good look at the menu and order something to eat. Oliver ordered a steak fillet while Kara opted for pasta instead. The food came and they both enjoyed their meal thoroughly while they continued to converse.

“So I know we’re not ordinary people, but let’s pretend to be for a few moments,” said Oliver, “Ask me a question that you usually would on a first date.”

“Okay,” obliged Kara. “I usually like to ask if you were s… Oh no, not that,” she said, stopping herself.

“What?”

“It’s not really appropriate,” said Kara, as she mentally kicked herself. “Remember what I said earlier about not making things awkward?”

“I promise I won’t get mad or offended,” said Oliver reassuringly. Kara was hesitant to ask, but eventually decided to do so.

“Well, I was going to say ‘If you were stranded on an island, what three things would you take with you?’,” said Kara meekly.

“Oh.” Given Kara’s tendency to be socially awkward sometimes, Oliver wasn’t exactly surprised, but he also wasn’t angered. Not in the slightest.

“Actually that’s not a bad question to ask me,” he replied cheerfully, surprising Kara, “Given that, you know… Been there, done that.” His joke broke Kara’s worry, drawing some nervous laughter out of her. “Let me ask you a question: What’s a movie that you could watch over and over again and never get tired of?”

“The Wizard of Oz,” replied Kara immediately, “My adoptive mother, Eliza, introduced me to it and I just loved it. I really like musicals.”

“I’m definitely not a musical person.”

“Who would have figured?” replied Kara sarcastically.

“You’re more likely to see me in a casket than on a stage,” joked Oliver.

“I’m sure you’re not that bad.”

“Compared to you, I am. It was pretty awesome when you sang at Barry’s wedding. It almost made me wonder if singing was one of your superpowers.”

“The flattery is just a tad-bit excessive, Oliver,” said Kara playfully.

“Sorry. I’m just trying to secure a second date.”

“The way things are going, I’m pretty sure we’re going to have one,” she replied with a smile. “By the way, I’m going to make it one of my life missions to get you to do karaoke at least once now.”

“Over my dead body,” replied Oliver.

* * *

Their time at the restaurant eventually came to an end after an evening that exceeded both of their expectations, and they returned to the privacy of Oliver’s apartment where Kara could use her extrapolator to return home.

“So, did you have a good time?” asked Oliver.

“Yes, it was very nice,” replied Kara, “I’d be more than happy to do this again soon.”

“Given that you came here tonight, I think it’s only fair that I come to your Earth next time.”

“You’ve never been to Earth-38 before, have you?” Oliver shook his head. “Maybe I could give you a tour then.”

“Looking forward to it,” replied Oliver. “Our extrapolators have some communication functionality, so I’ll let you know when I’m free again.”

“Sure. Once again, thanks for the evening,” she said as they embraced.

“It was my pleasure. See you soon,” he replied, before she activated her extrapolator and returned to Earth-38.


	5. Chapter 5

**[THREE DAYS LATER]**

Quentin entered Oliver’s office around midday, both about to meet with a promising candidate for Captain of the SCPD. Quentin had given Oliver the man’s resume, and he definitely had the credentials for it. He had stepped away from the force a year back, but had been convinced by Quentin to come back and take the job of Captain.

“This guy looks promising,” said Oliver, lifting his head from the file, “You said you knew him?”

“Yeah, from patrols back in the day,” replied Quentin, walking up to Oliver’s desk and staring at him.

Oliver became aware of Quentin’s curious glare. “What is it?” asked Oliver.

“Check what I found at the newsstand,” he replied, as he dropped a tabloid magazine on Oliver’s desk. “Now I know why you’ve been so cheery these past few days.”

Oliver immediately noted the somewhat low-quality picture on the cover, one of him opening his car door for Kara outside of the restaurant they’d gone to. The massive headline above it read – _“Is Mayor Queen’s love life heating up again?! Oliver Queen spotted having dinner with dazzling maiden!”._ Oliver rolled his eyes, having unintentionally given the tabloids a bone to gnaw on.

“Who is she?” asked Quentin.

“Kara Danvers,” replied Oliver.

“Who’s Kara Danvers?”

“Supergirl.”

Quentin broke out into a hearty laugh. “Okay, seriously, who is she?”

“I’m serious, Quentin.”

“Wait, really?” asked Quentin, still in disbelief. Just then did the office door open, and it was the Lieutenant coming for the captaincy interview. “You’re going to tell me everything about this later,” whispered Quentin, before he turned to greet the Lieutenant. He was dressed sharp and suave, with his brown hair slicked back, ending in curls while he was clean-shaven.

“Oliver, meet Lieutenant Matthew Smith,” said Quentin, as Oliver rose from his chair and walked around his desk to shake the man’s hand.

“Mayor Queen,” said Matthew Smith, with Oliver immediately noting the Southern drawl in his voice. This might be the man that Joe was referring to.

“Lieutenant. Have we met before?” asked Oliver, due to the man seeming slightly familiar to him.

“I might have arrested you once or twice back in your younger days,” he replied with a smirk.

“Right. You’ll be glad to know that those days are long gone,” said Oliver, slightly embarrassed.

“No need to convince me, Mr Queen. I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t know that.”

The meeting between the three men was lengthy, lasting nearly an hour. Smith went into detail discussing his plans as to how he would clean up the SCPD, and by the end of it, Oliver knew they had the right man.

Once Smith and Quentin left, he looked over his schedule for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Tomorrow was Friday, and he expected nothing major to pop up over the course of the next day. When he returned home later that evening, he immediately found his extrapolator and sent a message to Kara.

* * *

**[EARTH-38]**

Kara arrived outside of a neat house in the suburbs of National City. She was visiting an alien that resided here. In the month since Lex had been killed and the Children of Liberty disbanded, she’d taken to interviewing aliens that were willing to come forward and speak of their experiences of how they were affected by their actions. Trust between aliens and humans was at an all-time low, and working to repair that trust was Kara’s top priority at the moment. She was the bridge between the two, both as Kara Danvers and as Supergirl.

Kara knocked on the door, only having to wait for a few seconds before it opened. She was greeted by a middle-aged woman with pale skin and red hair, and Kara immediately knew that she was an Andromedan.

“Hi. Kara Danvers,” she said, smiling warmly and sticking her hand out. The Andromedan lady shook her hand and was about to introduce herself, but Kara quickly stopped her, “You don’t have to tell me your name, ma’am. When I said I guaranteed full anonymity, I meant it.”

“It’s okay, dear. I trust you,” replied the Andromedan. “I go by Lauren. Please, come in.” She stepped aside to allow for Kara to enter.

“What’s your real name, if you don’t mind me asking?” asked Kara, as she followed Lauren to the living room.

“Luravella,” she replied.

“That’s a beautiful name. You should use it,” replied Kara.

“Not in these times,” replied Luravella somberly. “Coffee?” she offered.

“Thank you.”

Luravella detailed her experiences to Kara from the beginning. She’d been on Earth for nearly two decades. She married a human, but unfortunately lost her due to breast cancer a few years ago. When she’d first come to Earth, she understood being feared. She was an unknown, and fear of the unknown is rational for any living being. What she’d begun to experience over the past year was far worse than fear. It was disdain and contempt just for her existence from people she never expected it from. People at the workplace, cashiers when she was shopping, and even some of her in-laws, who cut themselves off from her. Her adopted son was attacked and almost put in a coma for dating an alien.

For Kara, these conversations never got any easier. She always ended up eternally more grateful for what she’d been blessed with and in awe of the courage of these people. Kara was particularly astounded of Luravella’s hope and optimism. Some of the other aliens she’d spoken to were understandably still worried and scared, but not Luravella.

“Luthor and the Children of Liberty may be defeated, but this fight is still far from over,” said Luravella towards the end of the interview, “True victory will only come when we defeat their ideology, when we show that love will always prevail over hate and that humans and aliens can co-exist and live in harmony once more.”

“Do you think that’s still possible?” asked Kara.

“With people like you, dear, I have faith that that day will come. I just don’t know when.”

Kara turned off her recorder before speaking. “You’re very brave, Luravella. Thank you.”

“No, thank _you_ ,” she replied, before Kara gave her a hug.

Kara returned to CatCo after the interview to begin writing the piece. Later that evening while having dinner in her apartment, she was startled by a sudden beeping. It was quite soft, but her super-hearing picked up on it immediately. She found the source of the noise to be her extrapolator to Earth-1, and realised that she’d been sent a message by Oliver. She opened the message, the text shooting up as a hologram in front of her.

_“Kara, it’s Oliver here. I’m free tomorrow night if you’d like to do something.”_

Kara thought about it for a few moments before slightly smiling and replying.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara have their second date.

William Clayton watched his father adjust his tie and hair for the umpteenth time in front of the mirror. For the entirety of the time that he’d spent with Oliver in the past four years, he’d never seen him like this. Nervous. Anxious. Dare he even say… scared. He’d seen his father display the entire spectrum of emotions, but there always seemed to be a level-headedness. A stoic intensity that at least gave the impression that he was never vulnerable and that he always knew what to do. He knew that was far from the truth, because Oliver is, after all, human. But that was the main difference between Oliver right now and the Oliver that he’d come to know: His father was struggling to hide his nerves.

“What do you think? Do I look good?” asked Oliver as he turned to William.

“Yeah, just as good as the last three times you’ve asked me,” replied William.

“Facial hair good?”

“Yes, you’ve de-aged by five years just by shaving,” joked William. “Why are you shaving again?

“I need to look my best,” replied Oliver.

Oliver had made sure his faint stubble was at the same level it was at on Tuesday night. While he never grew out his beard in his 20s, he recently started to do so in his mid-30s. Apart from the way he dressed, it was the only way he could reflect his maturity and age. Whenever he was clean-shaven or with a small stubble, he appeared almost the same as he did in his late 20s. Thea once joked with him that he aged like Paul Rudd… In other words, he didn’t.

“I think you look pretty cool with facial hair,” replied William. “I’m still waiting for a goatee.”

“Again with the goatee talk,” groaned Oliver. “I tell you what. If you bring home an A for your first geometry test next semester, I’ll grow one out.”

“Seriously?” asked William, with Oliver nodding, “Deal,” said William excitedly as he shook his father’s hand to seal it. Oliver hugged him before moving to the center of his apartment to open the breach to Earth-38.

Immediately after stepping through the portal, Oliver froze out of caution for a second. Finding himself in an winsome. charming apartment, he tried to be as silent as possible in the likelihood that he was in a random citizen’s residence. He studied the place for a few seconds, noting that it was smaller than Thea’s loft but larger than his own residence. It was the best of both places in a lot of ways. It was spacious and artistic like Thea’s, but homey and welcoming like his. Unless DEO money was good, it was highly unlikely that Kara could afford this place on a reporter’s salary. “ _Perhaps the economy is stronger on this Earth, and rent is cheaper”_ , he thought to himself.

Just then did he hear a whoosh behind him, turning to see Kara in her Supergirl suit, holding two packets of Chinese takeout.

“Hi,” she said warmly, greeting him. “Sorry, I just had some errands to run.”

“Oh, that’s not a problem at all,” replied Oliver. “Am I in the right place?” he asked, as she put the packets on the table.

“Yeah, this is my place.”

“It’s quite nice, I like it.”

“Thanks,” replied Kara.

It took Kara less than 5 seconds to change into casual clothes and set the table for her and Oliver. Oliver grinned, amused at the practical use of her superspeed. They’d decided to just have takeouts at her place for the privacy. They realised on their first date that going out would mean that they would have to be vigilant and cautious when talking about their “other lives”, but they didn’t have to worry about that right now in her apartment. They decided to leave the tour of National City to another time, since they’d need almost a full day for that.

“I guess it’s safe to say that you’re a huge fan of dumplings,” said Oliver, as he took a seat opposite her on the dining table and noted the 20 large dumplings that were on the table.

“That’s an understatement,” replied Kara, “I _love_ them. I could eat them everyday for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy.”

“Not that you need to eat them, right?” asked Oliver, referring to her Kryptonian physiology.

“Yeah, I can just survive off solar radiation, but what’s the fun in that?”

“Right. Are you fond of Asian cuisine in general?” Kara nodded, and Oliver made a mental note of that. “So, how have you been? Anything interesting happen in the last few days?”

“Not really, I suppose. Just the usual as Supergirl, some meetings with alien citizens for my articles.”

“What are the articles about?” Kara took a deep breath before explaining the background to Oliver.

“Well, to give you some context… A few months ago, an anti-alien hate group called the Children of Liberty, led by a man named Ben Lockwood, surfaced with the intention of dividing aliens and humans. They managed to intensify anti-alien sentiment to levels never seen before, and in some people’s eyes, have caused almost irreparable damage to the relationship between aliens and humans. I’ve been interviewing aliens who are willing to speak about how Lockwood’s actions have changed their lives.”

“This group, are they still around?” asked Oliver.

“No, most of its members are incarcerated along with Lockwood, but their sentiments are still around,” replied Kara, harkening back to the words that Luravella told her. “There’s still a lot of work to be done with repairing the relationship between aliens and humans.”

“It sounds like you think that responsibility falls on your shoulders,” replied Oliver, picking up her tone of voice.

“Not all of it, but most of it,” replied Kara. “For a lot of humans, Supergirl is the only alien that they trust, and for a lot of aliens, Kara Danvers is the only human that they trust. I have to try to inspire both groups to see the best in each other.”

“You’re quite good at that. Inspiring people,” replied Oliver with a half-smile.

“So are you,” replied Kara with a smile of her own.

“I’ve learnt from the best… you and Barry.” Oliver gestured for them to dig in to the dumplings, and they each placed one in their mouth simultaneously. Kara was eager to see if Oliver liked them, and was a bit shocked to see a reserved look on his face.

“What, you don’t like it?” she asked.

“No, it’s good. Just a bit different to what I’ve had before,” replied Oliver.

“How so?”

“Let’s just say that takeout dumplings in the United States are quite different to homemade dumplings in Hong Kong.”

“Hong Kong?” she asked, eager to know a bit more. Oliver wondered for a second if he should tell her. He was always reluctant to speak about his time away, but he trusted her, and felt comfortable enough in her presence to tell her more than most others.

“Yeah, believe or not, for almost a year of my life, I ate dumplings every week in Hong Kong. What I’m about to tell you, only a handful of people know… I actually wasn’t stranded on an island for five years. I spent a year in Hong Kong, and another in Russia.”

Kara digested the revelation for a second before replying. “If you weren’t on the island, why didn’t you go home?” she asked.

“I was still tied up with some things,” he replied vaguely, and Kara decided not to press further on the matter. Oliver decided to change the topic and lighten the atmosphere, “Can I ask you something?” he said.

“Sure.”

“What’s it really like having superpowers?” he asked.

“Well, it has its pros and cons. They’re quite convenient for everyday life. I can do things instantly with superspeed, I can use my heat vision to warm up food, ice breath to chill drinks…”

“The cons?”

“Having to control them a lot of the time. Trying not to break things with my strength, sometimes I hear things that I don’t want to…”

Oliver chuckled. “Yeah, that must be a rough one.”

“You have no idea,” joked Kara. “But I’ve gotten quite good at it over the years. It was more difficult when I first arrived on Earth. The sensory overload with my super-senses… Sometimes, a pencil drop could sound like a gunshot. But that’s all under control now.”

“How did you learn to control your strength?” inquired Oliver, most curious about that.

“There was a stray cat in my neighbourhood. I named him Streaky. I would feed him every night, but I was always too scared to pet him, afraid that I might hurt him. I practiced being gentle for weeks, and as soon as I touched him for the first time, he started purring. I always say that that was the first time that I felt ‘human’.”

“That’s quite a heartwarming story,” replied Oliver.

“Did you ever have a cat?” asked Kara.

“No, never had a pet actually. There were some strays that lingered around the Queen Mansion grounds though.”

“Queen Mansion?” said Kara, thrown off by the phrase.

“Yeah. Rich family, so of course we lived in a mansion.”

“What was your childhood like?” she asked, curious to know more about the younger days of Oliver Queen.

“Pretty much what you’d think for a kid born into money. Spoilt, got everything that I wanted, never really went to school…”

“Surely it wasn’t all bad.”

“My parents had good hearts, but they weren’t always good people. It’s our actions that define us, and they didn’t always do good things. That was a trait that they passed onto me.”

“You’ve gotten rid of it by now though.”

“You think so?”

“Definitely,” replied Kara, with a smile. A moment of silence prompted an epiphany of curiosity to hit Kara, as she proceeded to ask Oliver a question she seldom asked others. “Oliver, you’re not really a religious person, are you?”

Oliver was surprised by the question. “No, I don’t think I ever have been.”

“Do you believe in a God, or Gods?”

“I don’t know. ” He pondered for a couple of more seconds before continuing, “I’m not going to say that there isn’t a God or Higher Power, but after everything I’ve seen and been through, it’s just… it’s a bit hard to believe that there’s a benevolent Higher Power out there, you know?”

“I can understand that. I find it hard to have faith too sometimes.”

“What are your beliefs?”

“I believe in Rao. You could say that it’s the Kryptonian interpretation of God. I’m not super religious, but sometimes I pray to Him. In my toughest times, I ask Him for guidance and strength.”

“Why not just ask for things to be easier?”

“’Don’t pray for a lighter load, pray for a stronger back’. My mother once told me that,” replied Kara. If there was a saying that encompassed Kara as a person, it was that, thought Oliver. He was quickly brought to the realisation that it applied to him too by Kara.

“That’s the reason why we all look up to you,” continued Kara, referring to the others heroes that knew Oliver as well, “You’ve always had the heaviest load, but you’re the strongest of us.”

“I’m not one of you guys anymore.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not still a hero. You’re seem like you’re too hard on yourself, Oliver.”

“Sorry, it’s a bad habit.”

“It’s okay, I struggle with it too sometimes,” replied Kara, with a smile.

This date was much different from their previous two encounters. The flirting and jokes weren’t as prominent, but rather, they were a bit more earnest, truly getting to know one another and building a genuine connection. When the evening was over, they already made plans to meet up again on Monday, and they bid each other farewell with a hug.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara have their third date.

For their third date, Oliver and Kara were having dinner by his place. The nerves that they had before their first and second date were still there, but they were far less intense. They’d become quite comfortable in each other’s presence, and Kara started to feel guilty for her past misconceptions about Oliver.

She’d previously thought that Oliver was a man governed by his darkness and even unstable to a certain extent, but after spending more time with him, she realised that wasn’t true. Alex was right about him having changed a lot since their previous meetings, or perhaps, those meetings were just during the darkest times of his life, and she was now starting to see the real Oliver Queen.

While Kara didn’t generally believe in date numbers having significance, she did on this occasion. Two dates, soon to be three, with Oliver Queen is significant, because even though they were only two dates in, Kara was seeing hints of a viable relationship. That had a lot to do with their association before they started dating, given that it was by no means conventional. Just the circumstances of their first meeting were extraordinary. Nobody else on Earth-38 nor Earth-1 could say that they met someone through helping them prevent an alien invasion.

In their last three meetings, she and Oliver had established some of the key foundations of a viable relationship – Physical attraction, friendship and respect. But it was really their past as heroes that provided a crucial aspect to the backbone of a relationship… Trust. Even if the aforementioned three foundations fell away, the trust would never. No matter what could happen between them, Kara knew she’d be there for Oliver if he ever needed her, and she knew that he would most definitely do the same for her. In the context of a romantic relationship, she had no worries about Oliver cheating on her despite his past reputation as a playboy. She knew that those days were truly well and far behind him.

However, there was still a crucial part of their relationship that she was worried about, and that was communication. He’d been quite open with her so far, but she knew that Oliver Queen still wasn’t always the best at communicating. She understood why he was reluctant to speak about his time on the island, as well as his past as the Green Arrow, given how and why it came to an end, but he also generally had tendencies to bottle things up and want to deal with things by himself.

She’d yet to voice her concerns on their inter-species differences. She felt as if the time was right to do so, as well as have a serious discussion on the potential future of their relationship.

She arrived in his apartment at around 18:30. They greeted each other with a hug, and Kara was surprised to see him in a leather jacket and jeans.

“No suit today?” she asked.

“Yeah, no suit. Wanted to be a bit more casual today.” Kara’s super smell caught of a whiff of something fragrant, and she located the smell to be coming from a pot on the dining table.

“This smells amazing,” she said as she took a seat and opened the pot. The fried rice looked just as appetizing as it smelt. “This looks delicious.”

“I cooked it,” replied Oliver, surprising her.

“You can cook?” she asked, astounded.

“Why do you sound so surprised?” asked Oliver, grinning.

“You just never struck me as the cooking type.”

Oliver explained while he poured her a glass of wine for. “I’m quite close with one of the former housemaids in the mansion, Raisa. She’s like a second mother to me, and she taught me a few things about the kitchen.”

“Interesting. Why’d you decide on fried rice?” she asked.

“I remembered what you said about liking Asian cuisine,” replied Oliver, and Kara couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he remembered. They both dished a bowl, and Oliver was eager to see if Kara liked it. He watched her every move as she placed the first spoonful in her mouth, anticipating her answer.

“This is great!” she said, pleasing Oliver with her answer, “What did you do at City Hall today?”

“Today, I was particularly focused on the police department.”

“What were you doing?”

“We just got a new Captain for the police force, and we were discussing matters with the chief in depth today. He’s already making waves.”

“In a good way or bad way?”

“In a good way. Just in the past week, he’s already cut 10 officers who had multiple complaints on their record.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah. He’s a bit head-strong, which is what we need right now, but that’s going to rub some people the wrong way.”

“Will you be one of them?”

“Probably,” replied Oliver honestly, “Make no mistake about it, he’s the right guy for the job, but I can already see how stubborn and hard to deal with he’s going to be at times.”

“More stubborn than you?” joked Kara.

“Maybe,” replied Oliver with a smile.

After eating and lengthy discourse, Oliver and Kara moved to the couch. As they sat next to each other, Kara was surprised when Oliver pulled out a packet from underneath the coffee table in front of them.

“So, I was thinking that we could do something a bit different today,” said Oliver, as he took out two notepads and two pencils from the packet before handing one of each to her, “Sketching.”

Kara was dumbfounded by the suggestion. “Really?” she asked. Oliver nodded. “Sketch what?”

“Anything that you want. Maybe we could sketch each other,” he suggested.

“Someone’s been watching Vanilla Sky,” she remarked, drawing a chuckle out of Oliver.

“Well, I can’t lie and say that’s not where I got the idea from,” he replied.

“Let me just warn you in advance that I’m not exactly the best at drawing.”

“That’s okay,” replied Oliver, “Let’s just see where it goes.”

After another sip of wine each, they were both ready and eager to put pencil to paper.

“So, what to sketch?” asked Kara, “Your idea, you choose.”

Oliver pondered for a second before replying. “Let’s draw each other.”

“So we’re basically doing what David and Sofia did in the movie?”

“No. They were drawing caricatures of each other. Let’s draw something a bit more true.”

“Okay. Let’s do it,” said Kara with a smile, as they both began sketching. Close to the end of her sketch, Kara realised that she hadn’t brought up the things she wanted to talk about. She glanced at her watch and realised the evening was going to come to an end soon.

“Oliver, can we talk for a moment?” she requested.

“Sure,” he obliged, placing his pencil and paper down.

Kara took a deep breath before beginning. “So, I’ve had a lot of fun with you recently, and I definitely want to keep doing this. But with that said, I think we need to discuss some things.”

“Go ahead.”

“At this point in my life, I really don’t want to be wasting any time. If I’m seeing someone, I really need to know that they’re committed. It’s good to have fun, but I want something more than just fun. Something real. I’m willing to commit to someone if they’re willing to commit to me. Are you?”

“Yeah, of course. I feel the same way.”

“Great. So, these two things haven’t been problems so far, but if we’re going to start seeing each other more often, they might become ones. Firstly, we live in different universes, Oliver, and that might end up bringing a whole lot of challenges.”

“Maybe I can talk to Cisco about that. See if he can make a device that’ll allow us to communicate to a better degree than our extrapolators.”

“That could help. The issue that I’m more worried about is the fact that I’m Kryptonian, and you’re human. As I said, it’s not an issue now, but it may be in the future.”

“Your cousin, is he seeing anyone?” asked Oliver.

“Yeah. He’s actually been with her for many years.”

“They made it work. I’m sure we’ll be able to.”

They appreciated each other’s honesty and maturity, sharing a smile before continuing their sketches. Kara used her superspeed to finish up the last few touches of hers.

“Done,” she said.

“Give me a moment,” requested Oliver, “Just a reminder: Superspeed…”

“You don’t have it,” said Kara, finishing his words. Oliver was done a few seconds later. “Let me see,” said Kara.

Oliver handed her his sketch, and she was quite delighted at the eloquent drawing. It was her as Supergirl, posing heroically while hovering in the sky. He drew her beautifully, with her hair and cape blowing in the wind. The foreground stood out to her, as it showed a cat sitting on a porch, looking up at her.

“This is awesome,” said Kara, “The cat?” she asked.

“Inspired by Streaky,” replied Oliver. “When you told me your story about how you felt human for the first time when you petted him, it was very heartwarming and it stuck with me.”

“This is very touching. Thank you,” said Kara, “Can I keep this? I think I’m going to frame it.”

“Sure. Now your turn.”

She handed Oliver her sketch, and immediately upon seeing it, Oliver’s heart almost skipped a beat.

It was as powerful as a graphic as he’d ever seen, and he was at a loss for words as he gazed at it. There were two parts to it. The larger part that took up most of the page was of him standing in a suit, looking determined, focused and as a man of power. But it was really the foreground that shocked him. In front of the large portrait of him was a small silhouette of a man locked in an embrace with a smaller figure. It was him, hugging William.

“I thought you said you weren’t good at drawing.” Kara shrugged her shoulders innocently. “I don’t know what to say, it’s… it’s amazing. Why’d you draw this?”

“It’s a representation of who you are,” said Kara, as she pointed to the larger portrait, “That’s the Oliver Queen that everyone sees. He’s stoic, iron-willed, determined, but there’s a softer side to him. He’s caring, he’s compassionate, he’s… vulnerable. He just doesn’t like to show it.”

For a brief moment, Oliver and Kara held eye contact.

But just then did the door to the apartment open. William stepped in, and immediately greeted them before walking to his room.

“Did you have fun?” asked Oliver.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Good. You should hit the bed now, buddy.”

“It’s still early, Dad,” objected William.

“No, William, it’s getting late. I know you’re on summer break, but you should start getting back into routine.”

“You just want me to go to bed so you can have some more alone time with Kara,” said William playfully, causing Kara to giggle.

“That’s going to be 20 pushups,” said Oliver, snapping his fingers and pointing at William, who simply laughed off his father’s punishment before he entering his room and closing the door. Oliver’s punishment caused Kara to laugh even harder.

“20 pushups?” she asked.

“Yeah, once in a while he gets a bit out of hand, so I make him do extra pushups when we train.”

“What training?”

“He’s had some trouble at school with bullies in the past. I’ve been training him for a while now, just so that he knows how to defend himself.”

“It’s pretty funny watching you go into Dad mode,” said Kara.

“He’s a good kid, so I don’t have to do it very often,” replied Oliver, “Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah, the food was great, and I enjoyed the sketching,” replied Kara. They both rose from the couch and moved to the center of the apartment.

“So, I will talk to Cisco about devices to help us communicate better,” said Oliver, “I have a busy week ahead of me, so it might be a while before we see each other again… unfortunately.”

“Yeah, unfortunately,” repeated Kara, echoing his sentiment. Their eyes locked once again for a brief moment, and Oliver wondered if he should lean in for a kiss… But Kara stuck her arms, and he settled for a hug before she returned to her Earth.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver trains William while Alex receives some disturbing news from a friend in the NCPD.

**[EARTH-01]**

**[TWO DAYS LATER]**

“Come on, final stretch!”

William furiously hit the pads which Oliver was holding up, fighting through the rabid pain in his shoulders and stitch starting to ache in his abdomen. The end of their training session today was culminating in speed work and already fatigued after a one-hour session, William was nearing a point of exhaustion.

“Three more!” said Oliver, as William continued to throw the combo. Right uppercut, left uppercut, right uppercut, left hook. Right uppercut, left uppercut, right uppercut, left hook.

“Last one!” William threw the last combo, bringing the session to an end. He immediately took a deep breath in and slouched over once he was done. “Good stuff,” said Oliver, patting William on the back before handing him a bottle of water. William removed his gloves and took large gulps of the water before slumping to the floor and lying down.

“My shoulders are dead,” he said.

“Because of those 20 pushups at the beginning,” replied Oliver.

“Yeah, but they were worth it,” said William as he rose from the floor and fist-bumped his father.

“You keep training like that, you might even be able to kick my ass one day.” William’s eyes lit up for a second, but Oliver quickly reiterated his main point, “ _Might._ ”

“Oh, I can’t wait for that day,” replied William, briefly envisioning a future sparring session where he lands a clean punch and has his father staggering around on jelly legs.

“Well, then you’re going to be waiting for a _long_ time.”

“Not as long as you think,” added William, trying to get the better of his dad in this verbal exchange, but Oliver was too witty for him.

“Yep, even longer.” William had no comeback, simply laughing before heading to his room for a shower.

A busy day at the office yesterday, Oliver hadn’t the time to call Cisco and speak about the device, but was fixing to do so now. He grabbed his phone and typed in Cisco’s number, making the call. He answered after three rings.

_“Oliver, what’s up?”_

“Cisco, how have you been?”

_“Good and you?”_

“Good. Listen, I need a favour.”

_“What is it?”_

“I know that extrapolators have communication functionality, but would you by any chance be able to make a device with greater communicative capabilities between people on other Earths?”

_“Greater communicative capabilities? You mean interdimensional FaceTime?”_

“Yes, interdimensional FaceTime.”

_“Couldn’t you just say that?”_

“No,” replied Oliver bluntly, “Can you do it?”

_“Probably. Just tell me to which Earth.”_

“Earth-38.”

_“Earth-38? Who could you possibly want to FaceTime with on Earth-38?”_

Oliver sensed the enthusiastic sarcasm in Cisco’s voice and sighed knowing what dialogue was about to follow. His sigh only prompted Cisco to tease him further.

_“Ooh-La-La, are Oliver Queen and Supergirl getting serious?”_

“Cisco, you do know that it takes roughly 1200 pounds of torque to break someone’s neck?”

Cisco was confused by Oliver’s deviation from the topic. _“Yeah?”_

“And you are well aware that I can generate that amount of torque with my arms?”

 _“Yeah, but how does that relate to… oh.”_ Cisco immediately realised what Oliver was insinuating. _“Please don’t break my neck.”_

“I won’t, as long as you make that device and stop teasing me about Kara.”

_“Easy peasy, my lips are zipped.”_

“How long do you think it’ll take to make it?”

_“I could do it by Friday. Sunday latest.”_

“Alright, great. Thanks, Cisco, I appreciate it.”

* * *

**[EARTH-38]**

Wednesday mid-afternoon, Alex was contacted by an old friend in the police department regarding a case. Detective Gillian Poirier became affiliated with Alex through her past relationship with Maggie. While Alex and Maggie were no longer together, Detective Poirier still contacted Alex from time to time for help on certain cases, especially ones involving aliens. This particular case was puzzling the NCPD, and Gillian was hoping to see if Alex could help in any way. Alex met with Gillian at Noonan’s.

“Gill,” said Alex, as she approached the table Gillian was seated at. Gillian stood up and shook Alex’s hand.

“Alex,” she replied, before they both sat down. After the usual short chit-chat, they cut straight to the chase. “So, what do you have for me?”

“Two homicides in the past week,” said Poirer, as she handed a file to Alex, “Both human victims. We believe that they’re connected.”

“Why? Links between the victims?” asked Alex.

“Nothing that we can find. It’s the killer’s MO.”

Just then did Alex flip to pictures of the victims, and she almost audibly gasped as she laid eyes on the horrific crime scenes. While the victims being pinned to a wall with a projectile through their throats was ghastly enough, what really struck a nerve with Alex was the projectile itself.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let you guys know in case you haven't realised yet, I didn't name this story after the Arctic Monkeys song for no reason. Keep that in mind for the next chapter ;)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara have their fourth date at Al's Bar, where it's karaoke night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As fate would have it, this chapter ended up being perfectly timed to release on Valentine's Day. You'll find out why that's quite fitting once you read it :D
> 
> You're also basically going to learn why I titled this story "Do I Wanna Know?". If you haven't heard "Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys yet, I suggest that you give it a listen before reading this chapter. You all should keep it on standby too for the latter part of the chapter ;)

While Oliver wasn’t set to have a full tour of National City on Earth-38 yet, he was set to have his first glimpse of it as Kara had chosen to take him to Al’s Bar for their next date. While he knew that he could definitely hold his drink, courtesy of his frat boy days and time with Anatoly in Russia, the prospect of drinking alien liquor was both exciting and daunting at the same time. He hadn’t been wasted in twelve years and he sure as hell didn’t want to be anytime soon.

Cisco delivered the devices early on Friday afternoon, just in time for Oliver to give one to Kara before they go out tonight. The slender device was remarkably similar to a smartphone, and would allow Oliver and Kara to video call each other despite being on different Earths. It was a first of a kind, so Cisco told Oliver to simply give the devices back for patching if they were bugging out.

Dressed casually in a t-shirt, leather jacket and jeans, Oliver activated his extrapolator to Earth-38 at 19:30. As had become customary now, he and Kara greeted each other with a hug before Oliver gave her one of the devices. Al’s Bar wasn’t too far from Kara’s apartment, so they walked. Along the way, Oliver couldn’t help but be impressed with National City.

National City was perceptively in far better condition than Star City. The infrastructure was great, and the people were mostly friendly. On the surface, it most definitely appeared to the place that he hoped Star City would be by the end of his mayoral term, but he was not naïve enough to think that it was perfect. Even if Kara hadn’t explained to him the current affairs of the city, he still knew that it had its own problems and struggles.

A Friday night at Al’s Bar, the place was quite full. While he had mentally prepared himself for sharing a public setting with aliens, Oliver felt a bit out of place. The aliens were mostly humanoid in appearance, but they still varied vastly in skin colour, facial features, size, muscularity and gender. There were still a few humans in the place, or at least, aliens with a human appearance like Kara. Never in his wildest dreams would Oliver have ever thought that he would find himself in this setting, and yet, here he was. He could only imagine the reaction of his younger self if he told him that he’d one day be dating a superpowered alien from a parallel universe, going out with her to a bar filled with other extraterrestrials.

As Kara took a seat at a booth, her eyes flickered to the left as she saw a familiar face heading to the exit. It was Luravella, who spotted her too, and they waved at each other before Luravella exited.

“A friend?” asked Oliver.

“She’s one of the people that I recently interviewed for the articles I told you about. Anything interesting happen in City Hall today?” she asked.

Oliver laughed off the question from Kara. “Trust me, if anything interesting happens in there, you’ll know about it immediately.”

“What about William? Did you make him do those pushups?” asked Kara.

“Of course. A deal is a deal.”

“Well, it wasn’t a deal, it was a punishment.”

“Yeah, but we decided on it together. I never wanted him to feel like I was being unfair on him, so we negotiated and he thought it was suitable,” replied Oliver. He grinned upon thinking back to what William told him after training. “The little rascal even told me the pushups were worth getting to say what he said.”

Kara giggled. “He really said that?”

“Yeah.”

“I like him. He’s got a great sense of humour.”

“He goes a little too far sometimes. Hence the pushups.”

One condition of the evening was that Oliver had to try alien liquor instead of sticking to what he usually drank, but he started with just a regular beer while Kara ordered an “alien beer”.

“You don’t get affected by Earth alcohol at all, right?” asked Oliver.

“No, which is one of the reasons why I sometimes come here,” she replied.

“Ever gotten drunk here?” asked Oliver, eager to hear her answer.

“Only once, I think,” replied Kara, thinking back to her night with Mon-El here.

“With Alex?”

“No, with… with an old friend,” replied Kara, not wanting to delve into her relationship with Mon-El at this moment. “When was the last time that you were drunk?”

“Over a decade ago, I’d say.”

“Back in your frat boy days?”

“Yep. Although, I got pretty close a couple of times when I was in Russia. Between that and my younger days, I think my body has developed a remarkable tolerance for alcohol.”

He had no idea why, but Oliver’s previous concerns about getting drunk flew right out the window as he proceeded to challenge Kara.

“I could probably drink you under the table,” he said.

“You’re not serious,” replied Kara, dismissing Oliver’s confidence, “You haven’t forgotten that I’m Kryptonian, right? What I drink would most likely kill you.”

“Sure, but relative to our physiologies, I think I could hold my drink better than you.”

“Is that a challenge?” asked Kara.

“I don’t know. Is it?” replied Oliver with a grin.

“You bet your ass it is.”

Putting their beers to the side, Kara asked for two shot glasses and two bottles of tequila. While Oliver’s drink was alien as well, it was far weaker than what Kara was drinking to account for his human physiology.

* * *

Four shots down, and Oliver was most certainly starting to regret his choice.

“Looking a bit pale there, Queen,” teased Kara, not feeling the effects of her shots to the extent that Oliver was.

“You sure our bottles weren’t switched by accident?” asked Oliver. He felt like he was still sober, it was rather the vehemence of the drink that was affecting him, stinging his throat with each shot.

“If you were four shots down of my stuff, you’d be dead,” replied Kara. “Come on, one more.”

“I don’t think I can do another.”

“Oliver, I promise I’ll get you home safe if you pass out.”

“I’m not worried about passing out, Kara, I’m worried about my liver shutting down.” Oliver’s eyes shifted to the small stage at the far side of the bar where a mic was being set up. “What’s going on there?”

“Oh, it’s karaoke night.”

Oliver slowly turned his head back to Kara, who slyly grinned. “So that’s the real reason you brought me here. Kara, I am _not_ doing karaoke.”

“Hey, when I said that I was going to make it one of my life’s missions to get you to do karaoke, I meant it. How about this: If you don’t do your fifth shot, then you have to go up there.”

Oliver’s eyes widened. “Did you forget what I said about my liver shutting down?”

“Well, you did say you’d do karaoke ‘over your dead body’,” replied Kara before quickly realising that didn’t make sense and shaking her head, “Look, the DEO has great medical facilities. You’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but if I do this fifth shot, then _you_ have to go up there, and I get to choose the song. Fair deal?”

“Deal,” said Kara, as her and Oliver shook to hands to seal it. Oliver filled his shot glass for the fifth time, and held it up in front of himself while contemplating if it was going to be worth it. After an intense thought process, he eventually decided that… it was.

He downed it, grimacing as he slammed the glass back down. Kara was astonished at the fact that Oliver actually did it, and after the initial shock settled, she realised what she was going to have to do.

“Okay, you win. What song?” she asked.

Oliver pondered for a few seconds before finally deciding.

“’Do I Wanna Know?’ by Arctic Monkeys.”

“Really?” asked Kara, surprised at his choice.

“Yeah, do you know the lyrics?”

“Of course I do, it’s one of my favourites.”

“That’s good for you then. Come on, Kara. A deal is a deal,” said Oliver, smiling as he gestured to the stage. Kara broke out a smile of her own as she stood up and starting making her way there. Oliver ordered a bottle of water, taking large gulps as he watched Kara prep herself on stage. He leaned back in his seat, knowing that he was going to enjoy this more than he even thought.

Right before the instrumental started, Kara looked over at Oliver one more time, giving him a tantalizing wink.

The instrumental beat started, and Oliver observed Kara’s every single movement. The tapping of her foot to the beat, the slight sways of her hips to the riff, even the slight twitches in her facial muscles right before she began to sing.

_“Have you got colour in your cheeks?_

_Do you ever get the fear that you can't shift the type_

_That sticks around like summat in your teeth?”  
  
_ Her charming, sultry vocalisations sent shivers down Oliver’s spine for a reason he did not know. Or perhaps he did know but had just refused to acknowledge it until now.

_“Are there some aces up your sleeve?_

_Have you no idea that you're in deep?_

_I've dreamt about you nearly every night this week_

_How many secrets can you keep?”_

She had the entire bar in the palm of her hand, and that included Oliver more so than anyone else. She had him in a trance, everything around him seemingly blacked out while she was the sole focus of every ounce of his attention.

_“Cause there's this tune I found_

_That makes me think of you somehow_

_And I play it on repeat_

_Until I fall asleep_

_Spilling drinks on my settee…”_

He leaned forward, and as he continued to intently watch her rhythmic movements and listen to her hypnotic voice, the epiphany hit him... He was in love.

_“(Do I wanna know?) If this feeling flows both ways?”_

Did he want to know?

_(Sad to see you go) Was sorta hoping that you'd stay_

_(Baby, we both know) That the nights were mainly made_

_For saying things that you can't say tomorrow day…”_

As much as Oliver would never admit it, the alcohol was starting to take its toll. More tipsy than he would have liked, Oliver took one more sip of water before making an intrepid decision that he was most likely going to regret one day. But that day would not be today.

* * *

_“Crawling back to you_

_Ever thought of calling when_

_You've had a few?_

_'Cause I always do_

_Maybe I'm too_

_Busy being yours_

_To fall for somebody new…”_

As Kara approached the end of the first chorus, her eyes wandered back to where Oliver was sitting.

But he was no longer there.

She had enough composure to finish the last two lines of the chorus, but she was still disconcerted. In a split second, she scanned the rest of the bar, but he was nowhere to be seen. Her mind began to quickly run through the worst-case scenarios. Had he collapsed from the shots? Did he leave? The second verse was about to begin, and panicking about Oliver, she feared that she was going to bomb.

**“So have you got the guts?”**

Just then, another voice joined, beginning the second verse. It was much different from hers. It was much deeper, rougher but still charismatic. It was… Oliver?

She whipped to her left, and was frozen in shock upon seeing Oliver joining her on stage.

**“Been wondering if your heart's still open**

**And if so, I wanna know what time it shuts.”**

She had to consciously stop her jaw from dropping, amazed and mesmerised by the charm of his husky voice. He took steps towards her, continuing to sing.

**“Simmer down and pucker up, I'm sorry to interrupt…”**

Stepping to within less than a meter from her, Oliver leaned forward to just centimeters away from her face, staring into her eyes as he sang the next line.

**“It's just I'm constantly on the cusp of _trying_ to kiss you.”**

It was easy to think that he was drunk and just singing, but something inside her told her that he really meant those words. He stepped back away from her, shrugging his shoulders as a physical expression of the next lyric.

**“I don't know if you feel the same as I do**

**But we could be together… if you wanted to...**

**(Do I wanna know?)…”** Oliver gestured for Kara to jump back in, and she happily obliged. _“If this feelin' flows both ways?”_

“ **(Sad to see you go)** _Was sorta hopin' that you'd stay_

 **(Baby, we both know)** _That the nights were mainly made_

 _For sayin' things that you can't say tomorrow day._ ”

The rest of the bar were enjoying their rendition vivaciously, cheering them on as Oliver and Kara began the chorus together.

**_“Crawling back to you_ **

**_Ever thought of calling when_ **

**_You've had a few?_ **

**_'Cause I always do_ **

**_Maybe I'm too busy being yours_ **

**_To fall for somebody new_ **

**_Now, I've thought it through_ **

**_Crawling back to you…”_ **

They were surprisingly synergised impeccably well, feeding off of each other and giving a thrilling performance as they approached the outro.

 _“(Do I wanna know?)_ **If this feeling flows both ways?**

 _(Sad to see you go)_ **Was sorta hoping that you'd stay**

 _(Baby, we both know)_ **That the nights were mainly made**

**For saying things that you can't say tomorrow day**

_(Do I wanna know?)_ **Too busy being yours to fall**

 _(Sad to see you go)_ **Ever thought of calling, darling?**

 _(Do I wanna know?)_ **Do you want me crawling back to you?** _”_

Oliver sang the final line to a well-deserved applause from the rest of the bar. As the beat came to an end, their bodies were close and eyes locked once again. Kara wondered if Oliver would be audacious enough to lean in for a kiss on stage, but he didn’t. Instead, he brandished the mic in his hand, holding it up for her to look at before dropping it, breaking out a wide smile before stepping off the stage.

* * *

“You have got to be kidding me!” exclaimed Kara, as she approached Oliver outside of Al’s Bar. He shrugged his shoulders dismissively, “I mean, I thought you could sing, but not like that!”

“Hidden talent,” replied Oliver. “I hope you enjoyed it, Kara, because that is never going to happen again.”

“Oh no, it definitely is. Now I know that I just need to put five shots of Glirellian tequila in you and you’re ready to go,” she said, as they started walking.

“If you think I’m taking another sip of that Gli… glycerine?”

“Glirellian,” replied Kara, giggling as she corrected him.

“Glirellian battery acid, you can think again. I’m surprised my vocal cords weren’t incinerated by the time I stepped on stage.”

“How’s your liver holding up?” she asked. Oliver feigned a grimace, placing a hand on his stomach.

“I can feel it disintegrating as we speak,” he joked.

“Well then let’s get you some medical attention,” replied Kara playfully, “Let me fly you to the DEO,” she said, putting her arms out, but he quickly took a step back.

“No, no, I’m fine. You’re not flying me anywhere,” he said sternly.

“What? Afraid of being carried by a lady?” teased Kara.

“No, just… don’t carry me anywhere,” replied Oliver with a hint of insecurity, causing Kara to laugh.

“Oh, oh, there he is,” she said, pointing at his face, “The grumpy, broody Oliver is back,” she teased, drawing a smirk out of him. “Where’s the Oliver that I just sang a duet with?”

“You left him at the bar.”

“Well, that sucks. Now I’m stuck with you.”

“Come on, I’m not that bad.”

“You’re not, but I prefer Duet Oliver. He’s pretty cool. Pretty weird to think that I’ve now sung a duet with both you and Barry.”

“You and Barry? When?”

“About two years, a fifth-dimensional being trapped us in a musical…” Oliver raised an eyebrow at Kara’s explanation, “It’s a long story,” said Kara, as her and Oliver continued to walk back to her apartment.

Unknowingly, they’d taken a slightly different route going back, and they ended up by the waterfront of National City. The Girl of Steel statue immediately caught Oliver’s eye.

“Of course they built a statue of you,” remarked Oliver, “It almost makes me a little less jealous that Barry has a coffee named after him.”

“Don’t worry, Oliver. You’ll get your coffee or statue one day,” replied Kara, as she reassuringly placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Kara, I have to admit,” said Oliver, as he turned to face her, “Tonight was the most fun I’ve had in years.”

“That’s what karaoke will do for you.”

Oliver dropped his suave demeanour, speaking sincerely. “I didn’t enjoy the karaoke a whole lot in itself. I enjoyed it because I did it with you.”

She turned earnest and spoke sincerely too. “When you were up there, singing those words… Did you mean them?”

Oliver took a deep breath, before locking eyes with Kara. “Yeah… yeah, I did.”

At this time of the night, they were the only two on the waterfront. The refreshing ocean breeze was revitalising their senses. After the night they’d just had, with the solitude gifted to them right now, this was as perfect a moment that they would have. Oliver was the one to lean in first, and Kara was happy to let him lead. He placed his hands by her hips before bringing his lips to hers.

It was a delicate kiss that lasted for several tender seconds. Their heartbeats rose and fell from beginning to end, but the butterflies strutting in their stomachs lingered for much longer. They felt a smile on each other’s lips as they separated and their faces hovered close as they regained their breath.

Their faces steadily gravitated closer, but just as their lips were about to brush once again… police sirens began to ring out, and their faces stopped agonisingly close to one another’s. Kara tuned in to the officers’ chatter using her super-hearing, learning that they were in pursuit of bank robbers. Oliver sighed, knowing exactly what this meant.

“Sorry. Duty calls,” said Kara apologetically.

“I understand,” replied Oliver. She ran her hand down his arm before stepping away. “I should head home and get some sleep anyway. The hangover tomorrow is going to be a killer.”

“You think?” teased Kara, drawing a chuckle from Oliver.

“Thanks for the night… and the kiss.”

Kara giggled, giving Oliver one more warm smile before bursting into flight. Oliver let out a deep breath before seeking a secluded place to activate his extrapolator. He made his way to an alley, making sure he was alone before he opened the breach and returned to Earth-1.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara asks for Oliver's help on a case of a serial killer.

The hangover the next morning was just as bad as Oliver had anticipated. Feeling as if he was waking from a coma, his mouth was dry and his head was throbbing. He leaned over to grab his watch from his bedside and checked the time. 11:17. Not too bad, but he was still going to be late for City Hall. There were two missed calls on his phone from Quentin, and he gingerly rose out of bed to go to the bathroom. As he brushed his teeth, he tried to remember as much about the previous evening as possible. Bits and pieces came back to him slowly, particularly the karaoke and the kiss.

He left his room to go to the kitchen and was immediately greeted by William, who was sat in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal.

“Morning,” he said.

“Morning,” replied Oliver, as he quickly poured himself a glass of water and downed it in one motion.

“Mr Lance called. I told him that you’re feeling sick and will come in a little late today,” said William, putting Oliver at ease about going to the office.

“Oh. Thanks,” replied Oliver. He refilled his glass before downing two paracetamol pills.

“You should eat something. Drink more water and maybe exercise a little,” said William, catching his father off-guard.

“What makes you say that?” asked Oliver.

“How else are you going to get rid of that hangover?”

“Who said I have a hangover?” replied Oliver defensively.

“Dehydrated, headache, over-slept. I googled the symptoms. And you seemed intoxicated when you came home last night.”

“Did I do something bad?” asked Oliver, as he grabbed a slice of toast for himself.

“No, you were just way more cheerful than usual. Too giddy.”

Oliver smiled. “I wasn’t giddy because of the alcohol, buddy,” replied Oliver, reminiscing about his kiss with Kara.

“What was it then?” asked William, curious.

“I’ll tell you another time,” replied Oliver, as he gave William a noogie before heading back to his room to get ready for work.

* * *

Alex pinched her brow as she stood in front of the large screens in the control hub of the DEO. While homicide cases were far from top priority at the DEO, she constantly found herself unable to take her mind off of the case that Detective Poirier had given her. Forensics at the DEO were coming up short and even J’onn was struggling to find anything of substance. Two more civilians, a couple, had been killed last night, and this instance was more peculiar than the others.

While the man had been pinned to the wall, as per the killer’s MO, the woman had been killed quickly, her neck snapped in half. The bruising pattern on her neck indicated that it had been done with one arm. While that meant that the killer could be enhanced, it also opened up the possibility that he was alien.

The killings appeared random, with little substantial links between the victims and no messages being left behind by the killer. But the killer definitely had their reasons, and their method for killing the victims surely had a meaning behind it too. She’d kept the case away from Kara for the past week but it was time to let her in on it.

Kara flew into the DEO, meeting Alex halfway across the room.

“Hey. You needed to show me something?” asked Kara.

“Yeah, follow me,” said Alex as she made Kara follow her upstairs.

“What is it?”

“NCPD gave us a homicide case to look in to. Four human victims. Three of them were killed in the same way over the past four weeks.”

“So there’s a serial killer in National City?” asked Kara, skeptical of the prospect.

“Yeah, believe it or not,” replied Alex, as she led Kara into a conference room. “Because the victims are all human, we can’t rule out the possibility of an alien perp, and you of all people know that the last thing the world, especially National City, needs right now is a murderous alien targeting humans.”

“Well how were they killed?” asked Kara, before immediately receiving her answer as she spotted the projectiles used to kill the victims on the table. Her heart dropped as soon as she saw them, eventually picking one up and laying her eyes on it.

Arrows.

She looked at the pictures of the crime scenes but couldn’t keep her eyes trained on the brutal images for long. She didn’t know any of the victims, but they seemed familiar to her for a reason that she didn’t know. She turned her attention back to the arrow in her hand.

 _“Just as I start dating a former archer, a serial killer that murders people with arrows shows up_ ,” Kara thought. An incomprehensibly strange and disturbing coincidence.

“Pinned to the wall by an arrow shot through their throat,” said Alex. Kara didn’t like the tone in Alex’s voice, thinking that she was insinuating something unimaginable.

“Alex, you’re not suggesting that...”

Alex quickly interjected. “No, no, not at all. Of course not. The reason I’m telling you this is because the NCPD and our forensics department are stumped. Without any visible links between the victims, the killer surely is trying to send a message but we’re not seeing it. Perhaps we need someone that’s… familiar with these types of cases.”

Kara’s eyes flared. “You want Oliver to help with the case?”

“He might see something here that we aren’t, especially given that the killer is an archer. Can you please ask him if he can help in any way?”

“I’m not sure if he’ll want to,” replied Kara.

Throughout all the time she’d spent with him, not once had she brought up his time as the Green Arrow. She completely understood that it was a sensitive topic and that he’d left that life behind for good reason. Asking him to help with this might stir up bad memories and volatile emotions, and that was the last that she wanted to do to him.

But lives were being lost, and she couldn’t sleep sound at night knowing that someone might die while she could have done something about it.

“I’ll ask him.”

She flew back to her apartment, opening her bedside drawer and activating the device that Oliver had given her. It looked and worked remarkably similar to a regular smartphone. She doubted that Oliver would have it on him right now, so a simple message on the chat app telling him to call her later would do at the moment.

But before she could even begin typing her message, she received one from Oliver. Kara raised an eyebrow, flabbergasted at what it said… since it wasn’t actually from Oliver.

_“Hi Kara. Hope you’re well. It’s actually William speaking here. May I ask – How good are you at geometry?”_

* * *

After leaving City Hall at 18:30, Oliver bought Big Belly Burger for dinner on the way home. Despite a busy day in the office, he’d had enough time to reflect on the previous evening. Even now, almost a day after, he still couldn’t believe that actually went on stage. Even though he didn’t regret it, he just hoped that nobody had taken a video. If a video somehow ended up in Kara’s hands, it was only a matter of time before it would eventually find it’s way to Thea and Barry, and then he’d be damned.

He was met with a pleasant surprise as soon as he entered his apartment, seeing Kara and William seated next to each other on the dining table. Their heads raised from the notes and books in front of them as they heard Oliver enter.

“What’s going on here?” asked Oliver, as he approached them.

“William contacted me and asked me to tutor him in geometry,” replied Kara.

“How?” asked Oliver.

“You left this on your bedside and I figured out how to use it pretty quickly,” replied William, as he held up Cisco’s device.

“I was initially reluctant, but after he told me about your deal, I couldn’t resist. I too would really like to see you with a goatee,” replied Kara with a grin.

Oliver frowned at William, who quickly shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, you never said I couldn’t ask for help.”

“Fair enough.”

“I didn’t come here just to help William though. I need to speak to you, Oliver,” replied Kara, as she stood up. Her lips tightened before she said her next words, “In private.”

“Oh, sure,” replied Oliver, sensing that it was a serious matter.

“I’ll come back and help you with the rest after we’re done,” said Kara to William before she joined Oliver. They went to his room, Oliver closing the door behind him once they were in.

“What is it?” asked Oliver, as he approached Kara. He immediately sensed her visible nervousness, as she stared at her shoes and fiddled with her fingers. She took a deep breath before speaking up.

“Oliver, I’m sorry if this upsets you, and I completely understand if you want to stay away from this and can’t help…”

“Kara, I won’t,” he replied reassuringly, “What do you need?”

She pulled out her phone and opened her gallery before handing it to Oliver. In contrast to Kara earlier, he couldn’t take his eyes off the gruesome pictures of the crime scenes even as Kara began to explain.

“There’s a serial killer in National City, murdering innocent civilians with a bow and arrow. With no links between the victims and no messages being left behind, we have no idea why the killer is doing this and who he’ll target next. We’re obviously missing something, and we thought that maybe… someone like you might see something here that we’re missing.”

“Because I’m a former archer?”

“Yes.”

“Why was it so hard for you to ask for my help?” asked Oliver.

“You don’t do these things anymore, Oliver. I thought you might not want to.”

“Innocent lives are being lost, Kara, of course I’m going to help in any way that I can,” he replied.

Kara nodded, stopping herself from letting out an audible sigh of relief that he didn’t react turbulently. “Okay. Anything specific that stands out to you from the photos?”

“No, I can’t tell much. I might need to go to the crime scenes, maybe take a look at the arrows too.”

“When will you be able to come to my Earth for that?”

“Tomorrow,” replied Oliver, surprising her, “I’ll call in sick at the office.”

“You sure?”

“It’s a Sunday, so my schedule was going to be light anyways. What time will be good for me to come?”

“10:00?” suggested Kara.

“Alright, I’ll be there.”

“Thank you for agreeing to help,” said Kara gratefully.

“Don’t thank me yet. Thank me once we catch this guy,” replied Oliver, as he opened the door for Kara and left the room with her. She returned to the dining table and helped William with the rest of his work. She planned to leave thereafter but Oliver suggested that she stay for a bit longer.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner? I bought an extra burger,” said Oliver.

Kara pondered for a second. “Sure.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver goes to Earth-38 to help with the case, meeting Nia and Brainy.

Oliver phoned Quentin early the next morning and explained to him the full details of why he was going to Earth-38. Quentin agreed to cover for him, simply letting those at City Hall know that Oliver’s “sickness” from yesterday had worsened and that he was taking the day off. After Kara had left last night, he had already begun to think more about the case.

The image of the lady that had her neck broken immediately made him think back to the Cyrus Gold break-in at Applied Sciences years ago. The circumstances of the killings were remarkably similar, with signs pointing to the fact that the victims’ necks were broken with one hand. Oliver had a good idea of how to approach cases of enhanced beings, although the wrinkle that Earth-38 presented was that the killer might be alien. If the killer was enhanced and strong enough to snap necks with one hand, then the question arose of why they were using a bow and arrow.

Something that also crossed Oliver’s mind was the thought of the perpetrator being a doppelganger of someone he knew. Oliver Queen didn’t exist on Earth-38, but who’s to say a Merlyn or Prometheus didn’t? If that was the case, then some unwanted emotions were definitely going to be brought to the surface.

He wasn’t surprised that Kara was afraid to ask for his help. It took him nearly a year after the incident to finally speak to someone about it in-depth and he never brought up his time as the Green Arrow to anyone in conversation unless it was completely relevant to the situation at hand. But while he no longer wore the hood, his determination to do good and save lives had never waned, and because of that, he didn’t need to think twice about helping Kara.

Dressed in a t-shirt, black suede jacket and jeans, he left before William had even woken up. He arrived on Earth-38 exactly at 10:00, finding himself in Kara’s apartment. He immediately spotted her across the room in her Supergirl suit.

“Hey,” she said, greeting him.

“Hi,” he replied, as she walked over to him. “So, where to first?”

“The DEO,” replied Kara, “They’ll have everything you need.”

“Okay. We’re walking?” asked Oliver.

“We can, but it would be quicker to fly,” said Kara, causing Oliver to sigh. “We don’t have to,” added Kara.

“No, it’s okay, it’ll save us time,” replied Oliver. He stepped closer to Kara and placed his arm over her shoulder. He braced himself, tensing his body as Kara took flight. They arrived at the DEO within seconds.

Despite having been supersped around by Barry on several occasions, flying presented a slightly different, more nauseating sensation. Oliver knelt over as soon as they came to a stop, taking deep breaths.

“Are you going to throw up?” asked Kara, taking a step back.

“Nope, I’m good,” replied Oliver despite feeling his stomach churning. “You’re lucky I’m not Diggle,” he said, drawing a chuckle out of Kara.

Having regained his bearings, Oliver took a closer look at the facility he was in while he followed Kara through it. State of the art, as he had expected. He admired the structure of the concrete and metal build, having no doubt that the building could stand up to otherworldly amounts of damage. Several DEO agents eyed him suspiciously for a second or two before carrying on with whatever they were doing.

A control hub was stationed at the far side of the room, where Oliver saw Alex speaking to two others. The man appeared to be a regular agent, but the woman was another hero, dressed in a white and blue suit. They spotted Oliver and Kara and left the hub to greet them.

“Oliver, good to see you again,” said Alex, as she approached them and shook Oliver’s hand. “Thank you for agreeing to help.”

“Like I told Kara, thank me after we catch this guy,” replied Oliver before turning to look at the two others.

“Oliver, this is Nia Nal, otherwise known as Dreamer,” said Kara, introducing them, “And this is Querl Dox, but we call him Brainy.”

“If you need anything while you’re here, Brainy is your guy,” said Alex.

“Indeed. Where would you like to begin?” asked Brainy.

“I’m going to need to take a closer look at the arrows. After that I’d like to visit the crimes scenes,” replied Oliver.

“Right down to business, I see,” said Brainy. “Follow me,” he said, as he stepped past Oliver.

“I’ll be down here if you need me,” said Kara, Oliver acknowledging her words with a nod before following Brainy upstairs. There were several rooms on the above level and Oliver took note of each of them as passed. A med-bay, conference rooms, and the lab that Brainy led him into. The 4 arrows from the crime scenes were sprawled out at a work station.

“So why do they call you Brainy?” asked Oliver, making small talk.

“It’s a nickname, derived from my other name, Brainiac-5. I believe it also refers to my 12th level intellect, which in simpler terms just means that I’m exceptionally intelligent,” replied Brainy.

“Well, since you’re a 12th level intellect, what do you make of this case?” asked Oliver.

“Would you mind being more specific?” requested Brainy, as he handed a magnifying stand to Oliver.

“Let’s start with what’s in front of us. The arrows.”

“I estimate a 38% probability that the arrows are symbolic of something due to the nature of the killings and a 53% probability that they are being used to send a message to someone.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow. “Those are oddly specific numbers.”

“Well, I am part-machine, so I often work in calculations.”

“Right. The remaining 9% is that the use of the arrows has no deeper meaning?” asked Oliver.

“Yes, and that a bow is simply the killer’s preferred weapon of choice, as it is yours.”

“Not anymore,” added Oliver quickly. “What about the victims?”

“None of them knew each other or seemed to be related in any significant way. Two of the victims publicly expressed support for alien rights, while only one expressed the opposite. The remaining two victims had never publicly stated their opinions on the matter. This, in my opinion, makes it more likely that the killer is human, not alien.”

“How would you explain the broken neck then?”

“Enhanced humans are quite common on Earth-38. Also, I suspect that the victims had a personal connection at one point in time to the killer, which is why he’s targeting them. A 79% probability, by my calculations.”

“I appreciate the numbers Brainy, but is there really nothing concrete that gives us an idea of who this guy is and why he’s doing this?”

“Unfortunately not. Which is why I believe that you’ve been brought here.”

“Alright. I’m going to analyse these arrows, which might take a while. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

“I’ll leave you to it then,” said Brainy, leaving while Oliver brought the magnifying stand closer and placed the arrow from the first murder under it.

* * *

Oliver took his time with his examination and analysis of the arrows, finally calling Brainy, Alex and Kara into the room after over an hour of studying each of the four arrows.

“Teflon-coated blades on the arrowhead, serrated to split the bone. The blades are made of a metal that I haven’t come across before.”

“Might be Nth metal,” said Kara, “An alien metal,” she added.

“Right. The shaft is some type of specialized polymer, stronger than carbon fiber. This isn’t the type of arrow you can simply pick up at a local archery store. This is custom, probably handmade by the killer himself.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” asked Alex.

“I know a handmade arrow when I see one. That rules out the possibility of us getting a beat on him by finding out where he purchased them.”

“Anything else you can tell us from the arrows?” asked Kara.

“Other than he’s clearly trained and knows what he’s doing, no. I’d like to visit the crime scenes now,” asked Oliver.

“Sure. Any specific ones do you want to go to?” asked Alex.

“All of them.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's detective skills help Kara uncover who the killer is targeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by some of David Baldacci's crime books and with a personal gripe that Arrow didn't show enough of Oliver's detective skills apart from 1x03 when he finds Deadshot's bullet, I decided to add elements of a murder mystery in this story. Although Oliver isn't the Green Arrow anymore, I also figured this would be a neat way to allow him to help Kara and add a sub-plot to their relationship. I hope you find it... intriguing.

"When I said I’d give you a tour of National City, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” said Kara, displeased with the situation at hand. She and Oliver had just left the house of the last crime scene.

Investigating the crime scenes didn’t prove to be fruitful for Oliver. He didn’t see or find anything that the police and DEO hadn’t, but he knew there had to be something left behind. Whatever it was, he couldn’t see it, and it was gnawing at his brain a little more than he expected.

“I’m sure there’s still a lot of the city to show me,” replied Oliver.

“Yeah, but I wanted your first impression to be better than this.”

“Well, sometimes you have to see the bad to appreciate the good.”

Before Oliver could speak again, he saw Kara raise a hand to the comms device in her ear. “What is it?” she said. As she listened to what Alex had to say, he could see her become disconcerted. “Yeah, I’m sure we can. We’ll be there soon.”

“What happened?” asked Oliver.

“Another victim discovered. Alex asked if we could meet J’onn at the scene right now.”

“Definitely,” replied Oliver, as he immediately put his arm around her shoulder before Kara took to the skies.

* * *

They arrived at the house of the victim a few seconds later, where a few cop cars were parked outside. The officers immediately turned their heads and stared, noting the presence of Supergirl and her companion.

“Kara.”

Kara and Oliver heard a deep voice call from behind them, turning to see J’onn. “J’onn. I’m sure you remember Oliver,” said Kara as he stepped forward to shake Oliver’s hand.

“Of course. Good to see you again, although I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Well, the circumstances of our first meeting weren’t that great either,” replied Oliver with a half-smile. He and Oliver had first met before the final battle of the Earth-X invasion, having been called to Earth-1 to help them fight the Nazis.

The three of them made their way into the house without resistance, the officers not daring to stop Supergirl from entering. They were immediately approached by Detective Poirier as they entered.

“Mr Jones,” she said, familiar with J’onn due to his previous involvement in the investigation, “I see you’ve brought two friends.”

“Yes. This woman needs no introduction,” said J’onn as he pointed to Kara, “This is Oliver Queen. He’s a…” J’onn stumbled, momentarily stumped on how to introduce Oliver.

“An old friend,” said Oliver quickly, as he stuck out his hand for Detective Poirier. She reluctantly shook his hand.

“What qualifications do you have to be here?” she asked, questioning his credentials.

Oliver spun a story off the top of his head. “Former CSI. J’onn is a friend, he consults me for help sometimes. I’ve worked on cases like this before.”

“Cases with murderous archers?”

“They’re a bit more common than you think,” quipped Oliver.

“I can vouch for him,” added Kara.

The fact that he was backed up by Supergirl was enough reason for Poirier to trust him, stepping aside to let them walk in further. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Supergirl, but isn’t CSI above your paygrade?”

“I don’t get paid, so no,” remarked Kara. “What happened here, Detective?” asked Kara. Poirier began explaining.

“The victim is Robert Neal. Amateur mixed martial artist who had his first pro fight booked for next week. When he didn’t show up for training this morning and wasn’t answering his phone, his coach came by to see what was going on. That’s when he found him here,” she said, as she pointed to a chalk outline of his body on the wall. There was a hole in the wall which lined up with his throat, accompanied by a dried bloodstain trailing down from it. “We estimated time of death to be around 03:00.”

“Anything different about this case from the others?” asked Kara.

“There was a struggle,” said Oliver, as he looked at the misplaced furniture, “Makes sense given that he was a fighter.”

Kara stepped closer to the wall, having spotted the modestly-sized cracks where Neal’s head would have been. They were from an impact. “He was flung into the wall hard enough to crack the concrete,” she said.

“That lends credence to the theory that the killer is enhanced,” added Poirier, “Or alien.”

“I doubt the killer is alien. Enhanced, but not alien,” said Oliver.

“What makes you say that?” asked Poirier.

“Just a gut feeling.”

“If Neal was thrown hard enough into the wall to crack it, that would have killed him,” said J’onn, “Pinning him there with an arrow was merely a statement. What statement he’s making or message he’s trying to send, my guess is as good as any of yours.”

“I took a look at the arrows and there was nothing,” added Oliver, “No message, no riddle, nothing.”

“Perhaps it’s not the arrows themselves but the fact that they’re being used to pin victims against a wall,” replied J’onn.

“Is there anything else that we should know, Detective?” asked Oliver.

“No, that’s all we have so far.”

“Mind if we take a look around?” requested Oliver. Poirier nodded, signalling that they were welcome to.

Stepping into the killer’s mindset and trying to mimic the events of the murder were crucial in Oliver’s investigative process. Kara watched as he stood where he estimated the killer shot the arrow from and tried to trace how he would have ended up there. The Oliver in front of her was starkly different from the one that she’d seen in their past several dates. Much more focused and intense, he appeared to be a lot more like the Oliver that she’d known from years prior.

Standing where the killer would have stood, Oliver narrowed his eyesight to the hole in the wall. Stepping forward to study it more closely, he realised that the killer hadn’t shot an arrow this time. The other victims had been pinned to wooden walls but Neal had been to a concrete wall. Judging from the penetration through the wooden walls, it was highly unlikely that the killer’s bow could generate enough force for the clean penetration that the hole in the concrete wall displayed. But judging from the speculation that the killer was enhanced, he possibly had enough strength to drive an arrow into the wall.

“He didn’t shoot Neal with the arrow, he stabbed him with it,” said Oliver, surprising J’onn and Kara. Oliver pointed to the hole, and J’onn took only a second to understand Oliver’s reasoning.

“Right, the bow wouldn’t have had enough draw strength to generate the force needed to punch a hole that clean.” Oliver nodded, before stepping away from the wall and continuing to examine the rest of the place around him.

“So either the killer knew that and decided to not shoot an arrow, or there was perhaps a bit more of a struggle than we think,” replied Oliver.

“If there was more of a struggle…”

“Then the killer may have unintentionally left some more clues behind,” said Kara, finishing J’onn’s sentence.

“Yep,” said Oliver as he continued to scour the place. Kara and J’onn did too, with Kara using her x-ray vision too to look for anything out of the ordinary.

Placing himself back in the killer’s shoes, Oliver recreated what kind of fight might have occurred as he looked around at the displacement of the furniture. If he was the killer, he would have tried to put an arrow in Neal if he was resisting. With Neal’s bedroom door already open, Oliver entered. He turned to look at the door as he entered, spotting a medium-sized hole at roughly chest height. A hole from an arrow… The killer had tried to shoot Neal with an arrow, only to miss this time.

Looking at the thickness of the door, the arrow definitely would have passed clean through. Oliver turned back around to estimate where the arrow would have ended up. There was a closet directly in line with Neal’s door, and as Oliver stepped closer, he saw another hole. He opened the door of the closet, but the arrow was gone. The killer had likely retrieved it before leaving the scene.

Initially disappointed, something caught Oliver’s eye as his gaze lowered…

A small blue pamphlet, stuck and hidden in the crevice of the side of a shelf. He would have considered it unimportant, but the image printed on the center of it that he could partially see stuck out to him. He reached forward and pulled it out of the crevice, now seeing the image in full…

It was a crest, like the one of Kara’s, but the symbol in the middle differed. The words below it simply said… “ _JOIN US.”_ He opened it, and skimmed through it, startled at how it was talking about the teachings of Rao, the Kryptonian God that Kara had told him about.

He rushed out of the room with it, immediately approaching Kara and handing it to her.

“Does this mean anything to you?” asked Oliver.

Kara’s eyes widened immediately as she looked at the pamphlet, looking as if she’d seen a ghost. “Where did you find this?” asked Kara.

“It was in his closet.”

Kara was speechless, unable to say anything as she came to the dreadful realisation of why all of the previous victims had looked so familiar to her…

They were all former members of the Cult of Rao.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairly short chapter, but after this one, Oliver and Kara are going to face the first bump in the road of their developing relationship.

“He’s targeting former members of the Cult of Rao,” said Kara as she, Oliver and J’onn walked to the control hub of the DEO. Kara handed Alex the pamphlet, “We found this in his closet.”

“Are you sure about this?” asked Alex.

“Yes. I remember the victims now. I saw them at the gathering that I went to,” replied Kara.

“What is the ‘Cult of Rao’ exactly?” asked Oliver, still having not had it explained to him. The name was pretty self-explanatory, but Oliver still wanted more information on it.

“Two years ago, a man named Thomas Scoville started this cult,” explained Kara, “He did teach about Rao, but the main focus of his sermons was worship of… of me. He and his disciples viewed me as a God because I’d saved their lives.”

“Brainy, what are the chances that Scoville is the killer, taking out his former disciples?” inquired Oliver.

“Zero. Thomas Scoville was confirmed to be deceased over a year ago,” he replied.

“The killer might still be a former member of the cult,” said J’onn, “Brainy, have any of the incarcerated members of the cult escaped from prison?”

Brainy searched for the prison records on his computer, and they waited for several seconds for the results to come through. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“We don’t have a list of former members. Kara, do you remember the others at the gathering that you were at?” asked Alex, with Kara replying with a nod. “Give us their names,” she said, as she handed Kara a notepad and pen.

“Brainy, scour social media for anyone using the word ‘Rao’, that might help us find any other members,” continued Alex, “Once you’re done with that and Kara hands you the names, cross-reference their profiles with those of the victims, that might help us find out who he plans to kill next. Then, search for any members with former military or law enforcement affiliations. That might point us in the direction of a potential suspect.”

“On it right away, boss.” Brainy saluted Alex and was handed the sketches by Kara before he turned to his computer and got to work.

“Thank you, Oliver, you’ve finally given us something to look into,” said Alex gratefully.

“If you need any more help with this, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“I ought to get going. I have a few other cases on my desk that need attending to,” said J’onn before turning to Oliver, “It was good to see you again, Oliver,” he said, shaking his hand before flying out of the DEO.

Kara turned to Oliver. “So, are you going to go back to Earth-1 now?” she asked, “You’ve done all here that you could to help.”

Oliver looked at the time on his wristwatch, seeing that it was 13:57. “Why don’t we grab lunch before I head back?”

“Are you sure?” asked Kara.

“Yeah, I’m in no rush to leave.”

“Okay, yeah, sure. What would you like to eat?” asked Kara.

“Do you have Big Belly Burger on Earth-38?”

“Oh yeah!”

* * *

While the menu of Earth-38’s Big Belly Burger was exactly the same, the prices were modestly lower, which reaffirmed Oliver’s previous theory of the economy on Earth-38 being stronger. Oliver ordered a Belly Buster combo while Kara ordered a Cheesemeister Deluxe.

“I still can’t believe you agreed to tutor William geometry,” said Oliver, as they waited for their food.

Kara giggled. “He asked nicely.”

“At least tell me you’re getting paid.”

“My payment will be the pleasure of seeing you with a goatee,” replied Kara playfully, causing Oliver to groan.

“You really think I’ll look good with one?” asked Oliver.

“Definitely. Not everyone can pull it off, but I think you will.”

“We’ll see.”

After lunch at Big Belly Burger, Kara gave Oliver a proper tour of National City, taking him to CatCo and several other spots in the city. They arrived back in Kara’s apartment just as the sun began to set.

“So, what do you think?” asked Kara.

“It was great, it’s a wonderful city. The type of place that I’d like Star City to be one day.”

“With you as its mayor, I’m sure it will get there.”

Oliver knew it was time to return home, but he had to ask Kara something that had been on his mind for the past couple of days. “Hey, can I ask you something about Friday night?”

“Sure.”

“Right before we kissed, I noticed that you were a bit apprehensive. Just a little hesitant.”

“Sorry, it’s just that when I’ve kissed humans in the past, I’ve ended up breaking their nose.”

“How many times has that happened?”

“Four,” replied Kara, “But I’ve gotten a lot better at controlling myself,” she quickly added.

“I can speak from personal experience in saying that a broken nose is worth a kiss from you.”

Oliver immediately cringed after saying that, and Kara broke out a hearty laugh. “Oh my gosh, that is probably the corniest thing you’ve ever said,” she said, through her laughter.

“Oh, you should hear some of the pickup lines I used to use in my younger days,” replied Oliver, sheepishly laughing with her.

“Tell me one.”

“I don’t remember them all too much,” replied Oliver, even though he did.

“Come on, I’m sure you remember at least one.”

Oliver decided to humour her. “There must be something wrong with my eyes, because I can’t take them off of you.”

Kara giggled again. “Did that actually work?”

“I have no idea how but more than once.”

They laughed together again.

“It was a pretty great kiss, if I’m being honest myself,” said Kara.

“Would you like another one before I leave?”

“I sure would,” replied Kara, biting her bottom lip.

The way she said it sent the same shivers down Oliver’s spine that he got when she began singing back at the bar, and he happily obliged as their faces came close.

But just before their lips could brush, police sirens began to wail once again, and they both groaned.

“Again?” said Kara, exasperated.

“Maybe we should stop kissing. Something always seems to go wrong when we do,” joked Oliver.

“Not on my watch,” replied Kara, as she quickly pressed her lips against his. Initially startled by the sudden touch, Oliver reciprocated her lip play for a couple of seconds before she broke away with a wide smile on her face.

“I’ll see you another time,” she said, taking her arms off his shoulders before bursting into flight.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date night quickly goes awry when Oliver and Kara discuss a sensitive topic.

Over the course of the next five days, Oliver found himself unable to take his mind off of the case. He was still very intrigued by the MO of the killer. The use of a bow and arrows remained a mystery. A mystery that irritated Oliver far more than he would have liked. He and Kara remained in frequent contact, courtesy of their handy device from Cisco. He had asked her if there had been any progress with the case but there wasn’t. At first, he couldn’t fathom why it was bothering him so much until he introspected further.

Vigilantism, or heroism, was a drug, and he was a recovering addict. That was something he’d discovered soon after he had hung up the hood. At first, Oliver had no desire to don the hood again, but after a while, the “cravings” set in. What the hood represented was something that could never be eliminated from his being. Like a smoker who scolds themself after every hit and vows to quit only to light up another cigarette once the craving arose again, so to did Oliver shun the idea of donning the hood until a situation for its need seemingly presented itself.

But unlike the smoker, Oliver never gave in. The risks of doing so were too dangerous, and the ensuing consequences were even more grave. He’d immediately put himself and his loved ones in danger, and he was not content with suffering any more loss than he already had. That was always enough reason for him to shut down his urges, along with his guilt over his team’s deaths. He always nipped his urges at the bud, knowing that dipping so much as a pinky into that pond could result in something reaching out and dragging him back down to the depths that he was embroiled in for the better part of 10 years.

* * *

Like Oliver, Kara’s mind often wandered into thoughts about the case, albeit for different reasons. A case like this was hardly her or the DEO’s main priority given the presence of much larger threats, but the unusual circumstances surrounding every aspect of it resulted in it poking at Kara’s mind more than she wanted to. The use of a bow and arrows, the targeting of Cult of Rao members, and the possibility of the killer being alien.

Due to its connection to the Cult of Rao, a small part of her made her wonder if the case had a greater connection to her. Another smaller, crazier part of her still somehow believed that the arrival of a murderous archer right as she began dating Oliver was too strange to be a coincidence. Perhaps it was the universe sending a veiled message or a bad omen for their relationship. She shunned such ludicrous thoughts aside, instead choosing to focus her mental energy on more optimistic and productive thoughts.

For one, everything was going great with Oliver. She had nothing overtly negative to say about him and the time they’ve spent together so far. She could even deduce that he’s a good father from the short time she has spent with William. She met up with him twice in the past five days while Oliver was at the office to help him with his geometry homework. He was a very intelligent kid, catching on very quickly to what Kara was explaining to him.

There was one topic which she always tried to steer away from with Oliver, and that was talking to him about his past. She knew it was an extremely sensitive topic, but perhaps now he’d be comfortable enough to speak about it to her. He was meeting her tonight for dinner, and she wondered if she could ask him about it and test the boundaries of how much he was willing to tell her at this point.

* * *

Oliver arrived at Kara’s apartment at 19:00, greeting her with a hug.

“Sorry, I was running late from the office. Came here straight from there,” replied Oliver, as he took a seat at Kara’s dining table.

“What were you busy with?”

“I’ll tell you all about it in a moment. Right now, I’m starving,” said Oliver, as he immediately opened one of the boxes of pizza and took out a slice for himself. “What about you? What’s been happening at CatCo?”

“Just the usual. Although I did get a nasty call yesterday from an asshole threatening that there’ll be consequences if I keep writing pro-alien pieces,” replied Kara.

Oliver chuckled. “Does that guy have any idea who he’s threatening?”

“Evidently not. I don’t pay much attention to those things anyway. It’s not the first death threat I’ve gotten, as Supergirl or as a reporter.”

As the evening continued, Kara noted that Oliver was unusually quiet. He seemed flat, perhaps tired from his day at the office. He was staring blankly at the glass of water in his hand.

Kara waved her hand in front of his face, catching his attention.

“Hmm?”

“Nothing, you just zoned out for a second,” said Kara.

“Oh, sorry. Just a bit tired,” replied Oliver, “And got a lot on my mind.”

“What is it?” asked Kara.

“Remember the new police captain I told you about?” asked Oliver. Kara nodded. “I got into it with him today discussing vigilantism.”

“What was he saying?”

“He’s firmly anti-vigilante, so the usual stuff. You’ve probably heard it before. ‘They think they’re above the law’, ‘Things get messy once you take the law into your own hands’, etc. He’s not entirely wrong.”

“So why’d you get into an argument then?”

“He was quite disrespectful and I couldn’t just stand there and let him slander you and Barry, even though I probably should have. I may not live that life anymore, but I know the toll that it takes. What it puts you through, all the sacrifices that you have to make.”

“You said you still agree with him though?”

“Not with his personal attitudes, but with his policy regarding vigilantes, yes.”

“Which is?”

“There’s no place for them in Star City anymore.”

“Quite ironic to hear you of all people say that,” remarked Kara. Her tone irked Oliver slightly, making him think that she was suggesting that he’s a hypocrite.

“I was one for five years, Kara. What exactly did I accomplish?”

“You saved hundreds of lives.”

“And failed to save hundreds more. Including those of my own team.”

“I’m sorry about your team, Oliver, but they knew the risks when they agreed to help you.”

“They were still my team, Kara. My team, my responsibility, and I failed them.”

“But you can’t carry the guilt of their passing forever.”

“Well, that’s easy for you to say when you weren’t the one who had to look into the eyes of Rene’s daughter and Felicity’s mother, and tell them that the only family they had left had been blown to hell by a psychopath who wanted revenge against me. They didn’t “pass” Kara… they were murdered.”

An awkward, discomforting silence followed before Oliver eventually spoke up again.

“My original point still stands,” continued Oliver, “Vigilantism in Star City only escalated things, and if I’m not out there, nobody else will be.”

“You think you ever will go out there again?” asked Kara.

“No.”

“Why not?” Kara was beginning to work on Oliver’s nerves, but he remained calm.

“Because I only caused more pain and suffering to those that I loved.”

“You keep saying that but it’s not true, Oliver.”

“Really? Let’s go through the list. Tommy died because I didn’t stop The Undertaking. That turned Laurel into an alcoholic, and then she later died because I put her in the field. Roy had to fake his death and uproot his whole life. My sister broke her back and now can’t walk anymore. Do you want me to go on?”

“Yes.”

Her blunt reply offended Oliver. “Excuse me?”

“You clearly don’t talk about this enough. You need to let it out and come to terms with it because holding on to this rage and guilt isn’t healthy.”

“Oh, so you’re my shrink now?” asked Oliver, beginning to lose his cool.

“No, of course not…”

“Then why are you acting like one?”

“I’m not, I’m just… we haven’t spoken about this yet and I…”

Before she could continue, Oliver interrupted her.

“Maybe I don’t want to! So back off!” growled Oliver, spitting the words out with venom.

It was only after Oliver said the words that he realised the mistake that he’d made. He’d lost his temper, only now seeing how disturbed and upset Kara looked. Just then did they hear the police sirens echoing distantly. This time however, unlike the previous two occasions, it was a welcome reprieve for both of them. Kara silently stood up from her chair and quickly supersped herself into her Supergirl suit.

She moved to the open window of her apartment. “Don’t bother waiting for me to get back,” she said without turning around, before bursting into flight.

Oliver closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He couldn’t stop himself from slamming his fist on the table, now no longer angry at Kara but at himself. Just like how he always feared he would, he’d screwed things up.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara make amends before deciphering the killer's message.

After stopping the thieves who attempted to steal several vats of toxic chemicals from a pharmaceutical manufacturing factory, Kara chose not to return to her apartment. She instead chose to stay in the sky and as she usually did when she was either angry, miserable or just in low spirits, she entered her meditative state above the clouds. Closing her eyes, she sometimes listened intently for any other criminal activity, allowed her thoughts to seamlessly flow through, or as she was doing now, reflect on what had driven her to her current state.

Oliver had lost his temper. She’d seen the part of him that she feared she would see from the moment dating him was suggested to her, the part of him which she’d seen before whenever he was out in the field. It was only a glimpse, but she’d been reminded of the Oliver that was tortured into possessing a grave darkness. While she recognised that that might be an over-exaggeration, that didn’t make it any less unsettling to see him like that.

She treaded that thin line of asking him about his past as a vigilante and took an even greater risk by conversing about his team. A month and almost half a dozen dates later, she thought it was perhaps the right time to have such a conversation with him, but now she knew that it wasn’t. Evidently, he never spoke about it much to anyone, and that was one of the reasons why he reacted in that way. She was in the wrong by being a bit headstrong in her discussion, but it was natural for her to still feel bitter at the way that the evening turned out.

Nearly an hour later when National City was quiet, she returned to her apartment, and to her dismay found Oliver still there, seated on one of her couches. He immediately rose as she entered from the window.

“I thought I told you to leave,” said Kara, not making eye contact as she walked past him to her room.

“Kara, please,” he pleaded, “Please just listen to me.”

She stopped before entering her room, but still didn’t make eye contact as she allowed him to speak.

“I’m sorry. I lost my cool and it shouldn’t have happened. The two things that I have never been good at are letting out my emotions in a healthy way and more importantly, talking about my team and everything else that I’ve been through. I’m trying to get better at it, but I’m still not where I need to be.”

Kara finally turned to look at Oliver. “I can’t blame you for how you reacted. It’s my fault too for pushing you to speak about it like that. But like I said, you can’t hold on to your guilt forever. You need to learn how to forgive yourself, Oliver. It’s possible, even if you don’t think it is.”

“I know a promise probably doesn’t mean much, but I promise you that I will try to. I just don’t know how long it will take.”

“You’ll get there,” replied Kara, reassuringly.

“Have I screwed things up between us?” asked Oliver.

Kara simply shook her head. “No. Not even close,” replied Kara with a half-smile. Oliver held in his sigh of relief, reciprocating her smile before he reached for the extrapolator in his pocket.

Unexpectedly, Kara’s phone started ringing, and she entered her room to retrieve it from her bedside. The call was from a contact not saved on her phone, and she had to take a moment to try to recognise whose number it was. She realised that it was Luravella’s. What could she want at this hour?

Kara answered. “Hello?”

 _“Kar… Kara…”_ The words being broken up by disturbing gawking and gurgling. _“Help…”_

“Luravella? Luravella?!” Kara screamed at her phone, before dropping it and running out of her room.

“What’s going on?” asked Oliver, immediately sensing her distress.

“I don’t know. The lady at the bar you saw, she’s in trouble.”

“I’m coming with,” he said.

“Oliver…”

“No time to argue, let’s go!” said Oliver sternly, as he placed his arm over Kara’s shoulder.

* * *

**[10 MINUTES EARLIER]**

Luravella Ferjar returned to her suburban home in National City after a lovely dinner with her son and his partner. He was still in crutches, steadily recovering from the injuries he sustained at the hands of the Children of Liberty. Even though she’d become accustomed to living by herself now, it never got any easier coming home to an empty house. Today was the three-year anniversary of the death of her partner, Jolie.

They were together for 14 years before her untimely passing at only 38. As an Andromedan, she aged at a slower rate than humans, and although she knew that she was likely to outlive Jolie anyway, that hardly made her death any less painful. Jolie was one of the first humans to know about her secret as an alien, discovering it on the first night that they’d met. With her red hair and pale skin being easily explainable, Luravella was blessed with not having any features that outright exposed her identity except for pointy ears, similar to the fictional creatures that humans referred to as “elves”.

She would wear a bandana in her early days on Earth to disguise her ears. She stopped when the majority of sentiments were pro-alien, but it was a behaviour she had to return to in these tense times between aliens and humans. She fondly recalled the night that she met Jolie as she looked at a picture frame of the two of them on vacation.

It was at a nightclub in National City called High Altitude. It went by a different name now, or perhaps had even closed down. Luravella never expected to ever be involved romantically with a human. She found it strange how humans tended to view things through a binary lens. She couldn’t classify her sexuality on the scale that humans tended to use but the word that came closest to it was perhaps, “fluid”. Jolie was similar to her in that regard, describing herself as a lesbian. At that time, being gay was far less accepted than it was today, something which Luravella discovered quite early on in her relationship with Jolie.

Attempting to learn more about the human ways of partying, Luravella went to High Altitude and sat quietly at the bar, noting the music that garnered the most cheers and how the song choice changed the way that people would dance. Jolie caught her eye in the crowd and immediately, Luravella was attracted to her. At one point, Jolie left the dancefloor to order a drink for herself even though she’d probably already had her fair share for the night.

She introduced herself to Luravella, immediately complimenting her red hair. Jolie noted her accent and shyness and Luravella explained it by simply saying that she was from another country. They struck up a conversation as they drank at the bar together and Jolie eventually persuaded Luravella to join her on the dancefloor. While Luravella was not familiar how to dance “like a human”, Jolie taught her, and they danced together for what felt like several hours. They stopped for a brief moment and something came over Jolie as she pulled Luravella in for a kiss. A vivacious, passionate kiss.

Luravella knew immediately that Jolie was in love with her. An empath, she could sense and feel one’s emotions just with her touch, and she felt Jolie’s love for her just from that kiss.

Of course, she felt lust too, and that resulted in them landing up in Jolie’s apartment by the end of the night. Having never had a sexual experience with a human, Luravella wasn’t sure was to expect, but it ended up being an amazing night, one of the best of her life. It was only after they had finished that Jolie noticed her elven-like ears and asked her about them. Trusting her, she blatantly blurted out that she was an alien. Of course, Jolie laughed for a full minute, only realising that Luravella was being serious when she calmed down.

Jolie still didn’t believe her, instead insisting that Luravella was still drunk and that they were from a plastic surgery she’d done years earlier. When they woke up the next morning and were sober, Luravella explained everything in depth to her, who wasn’t even phased by the revelation. She was instead fascinated by Luravella’s extraterrestrial roots, wanting to know everything about her species, homeworld and culture. Luravella told her everything, and so to did Jolie teach Luravella everything about Earth.

They never looked back since that day, eventually marrying before adopting a son. She remembered that first kiss like it was yesterday. Given who they were at that point in time, it was such a daring, brave move, and Jolie’s bravery was something that never wavered even up until her final moments in her battle against breast cancer. During her chemotherapy, Jolie forbid Luravella from touching her, knowing that she would feel her pain. Only in her final week when she knew that her death was inevitable did she allow Luravella to touch her one last time, and while she felt Jolie’s peace and eternal love for her, she also felt her pain, and that was the pain that stuck with her every night.

The Rocky movies were some of Jolie’s favourites, and inspired by how Rocky would go to Adrian’s grave to speak to her, Luravella often went to her grave and spoke to her, telling her everything. How she was feeling at that moment, what was happening in the world, how their son was doing…

Luravella cried herself to sleep for countless nights following her passing, and even now, she couldn’t stop herself from shedding a tear as she thought back on those 13 years of her life. How if she could, she’d trade in absolutely everything she had for just one more day with Jolie.

She placed the picture frame back on the table in her living room before moving to her bedroom. She went to the bathroom, running the tap and splashing her face with water to wash away her tears. Just as she was about to go to bed, she realised that she’d left her phone on the dining table. She went to fetch it.

She placed it in her pocket just before she sensed someone behind her, but it was already too late.

She was effortlessly picked up and slammed through the dining table. Ambushed, she had no chance to fight back. The slam had completely concussed her and blacked out her vision.

She was helpless from that point on, unable to fight back as the attacker picked her up effortlessly and threw her against the wall of her living room. She leaned against the wall and her vision returned just in time to see what the attacker was planning to do. He nocked an arrow on his bow before releasing his fingers from the bowstring. What followed was a horrifying piercing sensation, as an arrow ripped through her throat, pinning her to the wall.

* * *

Kara heard Luravella’s squirms for breath and gurgling long before she and Oliver had even arrived. Her heartbeat was slowly fading too, and Kara flew as fast as she ever had in her life to get to her house. Immediately upon entering, they spotted Luravella on the floor with an arrow through her throat, having dislodged herself from the wall where she’d been pinned.

Kara immediately rushed over while Oliver grabbed a towel from the kitchen. Kara moved to pull the arrow out but Oliver quickly stopped her.

“No, don’t. It’s a broadhead, pulling it out will cause more damage,” said Oliver, “Snap the arrowhead off first.”

Kara adhered to his instructions, snapping the arrowhead off to allow Oliver to then pull the arrow out and place the towel around her neck to minimize the bleeding.

“Take her to the DEO and come back for me. Go!” he said. Kara adhered to his instructions without protest, picking Luravella up and taking flight to the DEO.

Oliver rose to his feet and scanned the place. A phone lay on the floor next to a pool of blood, the screen still showing the call app which displayed a call made to Kara Danvers. The killer must have entered, done the deed and left all within a minute. From what Oliver could see, there was nothing that outright appeared out of place or caught his eye.

He moved back to the arrow and picked it up. When he looked at it without the arrowhead, something clicked in his mind. He spun the arrow around in his hand, instead now looking at the fletches at the rear-end of the arrow. He realised that he’d literally been looking at this the wrong way…

* * *

An hour later in the DEO, the doctors had finally managed to stabilise Luravella. The benefits of sharing a planet with aliens meant that some technology was advanced, and those advancements were on display in the DEO Medical Bay. He waited for the good news on Luravella before immediately calling Brainy, Alex and Kara to the lab with him.

“The arrows are the key to everything, I don’t know I missed this,” he said, as Brainy handed him the several arrows. Under a stronger magnifying lens, Oliver looked at the fletches of the first arrow, spotting the slight variations in the pattern of the black and white bristles.

“Pen and paper,” requested Oliver, sticking his hand out. Looking at the variations, he knew what they meant… Binary Code.

“What are you seeing?” asked Alex.

“He’s sending a message in Binary via the bristles.”

The black bristles symbolised a 0, and the white symbolised a 1. He began writing down the code that constantly repeated on the fletches of the first arrow.

_01001000011011110111000001100101_

**Hope.**

Then, the second arrow.

_01001000011001010110110001110000_

**Help.**

He continued for the remaining three arrows.

_01000011011011110110110101110000011000010111001101110011011010010110111101101110_

**Compassion.**

_010001100110111101110010_

**For.**

_010000010110110001101100_

**All.**

Hope, help, compassion for all?

Oliver was dumbstruck at first, wondering if he had made a mistake somewhere. Then he remembered…

It was what Supergirl stood for.

“Hope, help and compassion for all. This is a message to Supergirl,” said Oliver, before then turning to Kara, “He’s calling you out.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another wrench is thrown in Kara's way as she discovers that the killer potentially knows her identity.

The next three days proved to be stressful for Kara. With each passing day, she became more anxious and tense. Luravella had woken up yesterday and although her vocal cords were mostly unscathed, she couldn’t speak yet due to the pain in her throat. Her survival eased some of Kara’s tension, but knowing that there was still a murderous maniac out there preparing to murder civilians because of her kept her on edge.

Luravella had never told Kara that she used to be a part of the Cult nor that she knew her identity as Supergirl. Why the archer was murdering former members remained a question that couldn’t be answered, as well as the question of why he had a vendetta against Kara. All that they did know was that this wasn’t ending here, and that forboded disaster.

Oliver had been constantly messaging her, asking how she was feeling and if he needed to be there for her. She insisted that she was fine, but she knew that Oliver likely knew the opposite was true. He was extremely intuitive, evidenced by how he’d managed to discover the killer’s message.

She flew to the DEO after her day of work at CatCo to check up on Luravella. She immediately walked to the med-bay, and to her surprise, Luravella was seated on the bed without a ventilator on her face. Kara looked closer and saw her wound already having healed.

“Hello, Kara,” said Luravella with a smile.

“Luravella,” greeted Kara, walking over to her, “Your throat is already healed.”

“Not quite, but it’s getting there,” she replied, “I heal quicker than humans.”

“How are you? Are you feeling better?”

“Much better than yesterday.”

“That’s good. Listen… you never told me that you were part of the Cult of the Rao?” inquired Kara. Luravella immediately frowned.

“What’s that?” she asked, confused.

“The Cult of Rao. A group that used to worship Supergirl.”

“I was never a part of it. I’ve never even heard of it until you mentioned it now,” replied Luravella. “What makes you think that I would be a part of it?”

“The guy who attacked you is targeting former members, so I assumed that you were one too.”

The mention of the killer seemed to spark a previously lost thought in Luravella’s mind, as her tone of voice suddenly turned urgent. “Listen, there’s something that you need to know about him. I didn’t make the call to you. _He_ did.”

“What?” asked Kara, unsettled by the revelation.

“He took my phone and called you. I don’t know why.”

“So you didn’t know that I’m Supergirl?”

“No. I’m an empath, so I sensed a great power in you but I didn’t know that you were Supergirl until you rescued me. I also sensed your genuine compassion and desire to do good when I met you, which is why I trusted you. I think this guy attacked me to send a message to you.”

* * *

“Luravella just told me that she was never part of the Cult of Rao,” said Kara, as she approached Brainy and Alex at the control hub of the DEO. “And that she wasn’t the one who called me. The killer did.”

“You’re joking right?” said Alex in disbelief.

“I wish I was.”

“You know what this potentially means, right?” asked Brainy, “This opens up the possibility of him not just sending a message to Supergirl, but to Kara Danvers as well.”

“So what, he has a vendetta against Supergirl and Kara Danvers?” asked Alex.

“Possibly. But if I’m being honest, I think it’s highly likely that he suspected that you and Supergirl might be the same person, and attacking Luravella was a way to test his theory.”

“You think he knows my identity?” asked Kara, taken aback.

“It’s not a theory that we can totally disregard.”

Alex sighed. “Kara, you’re going to have to tell every other alien you’ve interviewed what’s happening. I’ll contact Detective Poirier and ask for a patrol car outside their homes. Tell Lena, James and Nia too, just so that they’re prepared if this guy is stupid enough to go after them.”

* * *

**[THREE HOURS LATER]**

The arrival of Supergirl after Luravella Ferjar’s call to Kara Danvers confirmed to the archer what he’d suspected for some time… Kara Danvers is Supergirl. After over a year of tracing Supergirl’s flight patterns and routines, he narrowed down her human alias to five young women in the city. Kara Danvers was the one that stuck out to him immediately. It made sense since they had been known to “work” together before. Now, he knew it to be true from the camera he planted in Luravella’s house.

But with the clarity that came with this discovery, murkiness had crept back into the situation due to the fact that Kara Danvers wasn’t the only one who came to Luravella’s aid. The man that showed up with her was, simply put, a ghost. An anomaly without a past, name or identity. All he knew for sure was that he was close to Ms Danvers. Pity for him, given that she wasn’t going to be alive for much longer.

The archer wanted to drag this out longer. He wanted to kill more of her friends, then her family. He wanted to continue to torture her, to have her know that all of their blood was on her hands. But he couldn’t. _They_ wanted her gone now and he couldn’t fight against them.

_“Our plans are proceeding ahead of schedule. We’ve given you enough time to have your fun. Now, it’s time to end her. I need not remind you of the consequences if you refuse,”_ they said.

With more thought, he realised that it would be equally satisfying to get his revenge now. To get his justice for what she’d done to him and many others. He looked ahead to her apartment windows, and knowing that she was weakened and already dying in there just bolstered his desire to kill her.

* * *

**[EARTH-01]**

Oliver sat in his bedroom, looking at the unread messages he’d sent to Kara today. He knew that she was likely busy, but also that she wasn’t in a good space at all. He knew all too well the feeling of guilt when a serial killer is murdering innocents to send a message to you. She needed something or someone to cheer her up, and he decided to be that someone. He rose from the bed and made his way to the kitchen, grabbing a tub of ice cream from the freezer before opening the breach to Earth-38.

As he stepped foot through the breach and arrived in Kara’s apartment, he was immediately hit with a strong, paraffin-like smell. The place was dark, all of the lights were off except for one coming from her bedroom.

“Kara?” he said, to no reply. Perhaps she was sleeping.

With minimal light in the room, it took him a moment to note the murkiness in the air. The room was ever so slightly smoky. It was only when he knelt to the floor and squinted his vision did he spot the green gas wafting through the place. Green gas… kryptonite.

“Kara!” He dropped the ice cream tub and ran to her room. He spotted her on the floor next to her bed hyperventilating while her veins glowed green. “Don’t worry, I’m here. I’m here.”

Oliver looked to her bedside, snatching her phone and immediately dialing Alex. “Alex, it’s Oliver. Kara has been poisoned with kryptonite in her apartm-“

Oliver stopped when he heard Kara’s apartment window shatter, followed by a body tumbling through.

Oliver ran out of her room, spotting the black-clad, masked archer. The archer stopped in his tracks for a split-second before nocking an arrow and firing at Oliver. Oliver caught the arrow and immediately flung it back at the archer, who shot it out of the air with another arrow. Oliver leapt forward just in time to stop the archer from nocking another arrow and knowing that the archer hadn’t come here expecting much of a fight made him fancy his chances.

Oliver first move was to throw a head kick with his left leg, the archer managing to raise his right arm just in time to block it. Having thrown the kick with immense power, Oliver didn’t realise how costly a mistake it would be until his leg made contact with the archer’s forearm as a crippling pain reverberated through his shin when it hit the pure metal arm.

Oliver screamed in pain as he backed away, not sure if his leg was broken or not. Regardless, it was now compromised and would hinder his movement. Oliver focused his entire efforts on avoiding the archer’s right arm, knowing that a clean punch from it could end the fight.

Despite still being in peak condition, Oliver hadn’t been in a fight in nearly two years and had to take a moment to readjust to a live combat scenario. The ring rust proved to be costly, as he found himself reacting just a split-second too slow to get out of the way of some of the archer’s strikes. He was still able to block and roll with the blows, but it allowed the archer was controlling the fight and gaining momentum.

But even though he didn’t have the hood on, Oliver was still the Kapiushon. The archer’s overconfidence was what started to cost him, as he left himself wide open for counter strikes from Oliver. Oliver dodged several of the archer’s strikes before kicking the bow out of his hands and countering with three well-placed strikes. A kick to the sternum, a palm to the throat and a vicious right hook directly to the archer’s jaw, a punch that would have knocked out many men.

But not this one. Instead, the punch just knocked the archer’s mask off, allowing Oliver to get a look at his face for the first time. Angered by the removal of his mask, he threw his enhanced arm directly into Oliver’s sternum, sending him flying to the other side of the room.

The punch had completely winded Oliver, taking the air out of his lungs. The archer started to make his way towards him, intent on ending the fight.

However, the archer hadn’t the chance to. A weakened ray of heat vision burst towards him, burning through his suit and searing his skin. Oliver’s eyes flickered to the entrance of Kara’s room. She was leaning on a wall for support, finally having recovered.

With his mask off, his bow far from him and Kara regaining her power with each second, the archer decided to leave, running to the broken window and jumping out.

In truth, Kara hadn’t recovered all that much. She was struggling to keep herself up. With her head still light and her muscles with no energy, she slumped to the floor, worrying Oliver.

“Kara,” he said, rising from the floor and running to her. He immediately knelt down and held her in his arms. “Stay with me, Kara. Help is coming. Just stay with me.”

Oliver felt a strong gust of air from behind him, fearing that the archer had returned. But it was instead J’onn J’onzz, allowing Oliver to let out a sigh of relief.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The archer's identity is discovered.

“Here.”

Oliver handed Brainy his sketch of the archer’s face. A caucasian man in his late 30s to early 40s, with short brown hair and a scruff. The archer’s suit was quite similar to that of Prometheus, so Oliver felt a sense of relief that the archer wasn’t the Adrian Chase of Earth-38. They were about to run the sketch through facial recognition and finally get an identity.

Kara had recovered quite well under the yellow sun lamps at the DEO and was present with J’onn, Brainy, Alex and Nia at the control hub of the DEO. The archer had managed to get into the ventilation system of the building and pump kryptonite gas through it to Kara’s room.

After a minute, the facial recognition software finally picked something up and the man’s picture was displayed on the large screens in front of them.

“Ethan Harris,” started Brainy, as he read his profile, “Born and raised in National City. He’s a veteran. Served in the US Army from 2007 to 2011 before being medically discharged. He lost his right arm when an IED explosion took out his vehicle in Iraq. Since then he returned to National City and began working at the local Department of Veteran Affairs. Married Julia Ward, a nurse, in 2015 but she passed away in January 2018. The profile stops here, citing that he disappeared in April 2018.”

“Any ideas on why he would want to kill Kara?” asked Oliver.

“Well, he’s been killing members of the Cult of Rao,” said Alex thoughtfully, “Brainy, how did his wife die?”

Brainy entered her profile and went to her cause of death. “Suicide… She threw herself off a building. She was pregnant at the time.”

Kara immediately knew why she’d done so. “His wife was a member of the Cult of Rao. She threw herself off that building hoping that I’d come and save her… But I didn’t and now, he wants revenge on me.”

“It’s not your fault, Kara,” said Oliver immediately, not wanting her to fall into the same trap of self-imposed guilt that he was stuck in. “How the hell did this guy manage to get his hands on kryptonite?”

“That doesn’t matter right now. All we know is that he has it,” replied Alex, “Kara, you’re staying at the DEO for the time being, non-negotiable,” she said, before turning to Brainy, “Run his images through the city-wide CCTV feeds. He surely can’t be hiding his face from every damn camera in the city.”

“I’ll head out, I might be able to track him,” said J’onn, as he headed for the exit of the DEO.

Oliver walked over to Kara. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Do you need me to be here?”

“No, it’s okay. You can go home if you need to.”

Oliver nodded, reaching for the extrapolator in his pocket. He couldn’t find it. He searched every other pocket on his jacket and jeans, but it wasn’t there. It must have fallen out during his fight with Harris.

“What’s wrong?” asked Kara.

“Dropped my extrapolator in your apartment. Are there any spares here at the DEO?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“I’ll come with you to fetch it,” said Kara.

“No. Like Alex said, you need to stay put for now,” interjected Nia, “I’ll go with Oliver.”

* * *

Nia struck up a conversation with Oliver as they walked back to Kara’s apartment. She’d heard a lot about him from Kara and Alex and found it remarkable that he was still pushing forward in life with all that she’d heard about his hardships through the years.

“Are you okay there?” she asked, as she noticed Oliver walking with a slight limp on his left leg.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just got hurt in the fight,” replied Oliver, as he subtly brought a hand to his sternum and massaged the area where Harris punched him.

“It’s quite impressive that you managed to hold your own against Harris.”

“Not my first fight with a superhuman,” quipped Oliver, “Probably not my last either.”

“Kara told me about your past as a hero.”

“Did she tell you why I stopped?”

Nia’s lips tightened. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. How did you and Kara become friends?”

“I started working at CatCo last year. Then my powers manifested, so I started helping her and the DEO.”

“Meta?”

“No, I’m an alien-human hybrid.”

“What powers do you have?”

“Oneiric energy manipulation and precognition.”

“So you can tell the future?”

“Not necessarily. My dreams are more so subjective rather than straight-forward, so it’s up to me to interpret what they mean.”

“So that’s why you’re called Dream-“ Oliver’s words were cut short when he felt a prick on the right side of his neck. He brought his hand to it and immediately felt a dart there.

“Aw shit!” The exclamation being all he could say before he became light-headed and dropped to the floor, hearing the crack of a bow and a loud bang before losing his consciousness.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara confronts Harris, attempting to save Oliver's life.

“What happened?” asked Kara, as she saw Nia hastily walking towards while wiping her bloody nose.

“Harris ambushed us. I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop him from taking Oliver.”

“Guys, I think you need to see this,” said Brainy, as he brought up a live satellite feed of the city. He zoomed in on a particular building’s roof, where a large House of El crest was burning. The top three floors of the building were on fire too.

Alex’s phone started ringing. The caller ID was blocked. She put the phone on speaker after answering.

_“Alex Danvers. Your sister should count herself lucky that she’s still alive.”_

“What do you want, Harris?”

_“The Zion Building, second last floor. Tell her to come now… alone. If I see anyone besides her, he dies. If she tries to put out the flames, he dies. If she comes in her anti-kryptonite suit, he dies.”_

He hung up the phone, and Kara immediately started walking for the exit of the DEO.

“Kara, it’s a trap,” said Alex, trying to stop her.

“He has Oliver.”

“He also has kryptonite.”

“Doesn’t matter. I need to save him.”

“If you’re not taking the suit, you can’t go alone,” interjected Nia. “He has Oliver because of me. I have to come with.”

“He said he’ll kill him if he sees any of you.”

“Then we don’t let him see me.”

* * *

Oliver came to as Harris hung up the phone and immediately he found himself unable to move, with ropes binding him to a chair. He was drenched in sweat, the sweltering heat pounding on his skin and making him feel like he was being baked in a furnace. He tensed his muscles and attempted to bring his arms around to in front of him, but the action caused the rope around his neck to tighten, choking him.

“I could tell that you were very skilled from our fight. Zip ties wouldn’t have sufficed.” A voice spoke from in front of Oliver, who immediately looked and recognised Harris, without his mask. The building around them was on fire too, a precaution Harris took to prevent the Martian Manhunter from interfering.

“These ropes won’t either,” replied Oliver sternly, even though he knew he couldn’t get out of them without help.

“I’m going to ask once and once only. Who are you?” asked Harris.

“The guy who’s dating Supergirl,” replied Oliver sarcastically.

“I’ve figured out that much. At first, I guessed black ops. A completely off-book government agent. A ghost, but even that didn’t check out. You literally didn’t exist on this planet until a couple of weeks ago.”

“Would you believe me if I told you that I’m from a parallel universe?”

Harris scoffed. “Given how crazy the world has gotten, that wouldn’t surprise me.”

“So crazy that former soldiers like you are parading around in a Halloween costume with a bow and arrow. Why?”

“’Though they intended evil against You, they will not succeed. You will make them turn their backs when You aim at them with your bow’. Psalm 21, verses 11-12. In the Bible, the bow symbolises a doctrine of truth and divine justice.”

“What truth and justice is there in murdering innocents?”

“They weren’t innocent. Those four were recruiters for the cult, going around and persuading others to join them in their madness. In their worship for Supergirl.”

“And Luravella?”

“I needed to confirm that Kara Danvers is Supergirl. Luravella was the easiest candidate to attack.”

“Why are you doing this, Harris?”

“People like her and her cousin, they’ve only ever caused more harm than good. They’ve poisoned the minds of humans with their disingenuous heroics and self-righteous facades. They think that they’re Gods.”

“Take it from someone who knows her, she doesn’t. She has far more humanity than both of us here combined. She’s a good person, she helps people… just like how your wife used to.”

In an instant, Harris withdrew a large blade from his waist and pressed the tip against Oliver’s throat. “Don’t you say one more word about my wife!”

Just then did Kara arrive, flying into the building. Harris immediately spun around behind Oliver, holding the blade against his throat and holding his other hand up to signal to Kara to stay put.

“Ethan, I know why you’re doing this,” said Kara as she cautiously tried to edge forward to them, “It’s because of your wife.”

“Yeah, my wife. My wife!” he screamed, “She’s dead because of you! Even after the cult got disbanded, she refused to stop believing. She threw herself off that building hoping that you’d save her and… and my unborn son. But you didn’t.”

“Yes. Yes, it was _my_ fault, so kill me. Leave Oliver out of this.”

“Oh no, Oliver’s not going anywhere. I want you to feel my pain. My rage,” he growled as the blade trailed down to Oliver’s chest, “Do you love him?”

Kara remained silent, prompting Ethan to press the blade harder on Oliver’s chest, cutting through his shirt. “Answer me! Do you love him?”

“Yes. Yes, I do,” replied Kara immediately.

“Good.” Harris withdrew a pistol resembling a flare gun. He fired it at Kara, who easily caught the grenade before it could hit her. It wasn’t a frag grenade, however. It combusted, dispersing green, kryptonite gas that engulfed Kara. She started choking, losing her strength and dropping to a knee.

“Because now, I’m going to take from you what you took from me. First, I’m going to rip his heart out. And then, I’m going to rip out yours.”

Kara helplessly watched as the blade pressed into Oliver’s chest, slowly started to slice through his skin. Even though he’d learnt to deal with pain, the affliction wasn’t any less excruciating for Oliver, as he screamed while the blade sunk deeper into his skin, making its way to his heart.

Even speaking was agonising for Kara, as she felt her voice box malfunctioning when she tried to compel words out from her throat.

“Now!” she was eventually able to say.

Nia heard Kara’s commands from the floor below, jumping up and burst through the ceiling on to the floor above. She immediately whipped out her Dreamer lassos, wrapping them around Harris and flinging him to the other side of the room before running over to Oliver and undoing his ropes.

In that short time, Harris already recovered. He reached for a small device from his pocket and jerked his hand, the device unfolding into a recurve bow. He fired several arrows at Oliver and Nia, using them as a shield for him to move closer towards them. Nia knocked them out of the air while Oliver caught the two that found their ways towards him. By the time he fired his final arrow, he was already in their faces and Nia was forced to retract her energy lassos to accommodate for the ensuing fistfight.

Oliver was skillfully the better fighter than Harris, while Nia was stronger and more durable, but they struggled to gain the upper hand even when trying to work together. Oliver hadn’t the strength to significantly hurt the enhanced Harris, with the blistering heat that surrounded him making him lethargic, while Nia hadn’t the necessary skill and fight experience to make her strength meaningfully count.

Just strong enough to compete with Nia and just skilled enough to keep up with a weakened Oliver, Harris gained the upper hand in the contest. He focused on avoiding Nia’s powerful strikes and taking Oliver out of the contest as soon as possible. He threw a punch straight into the deep laceration on Oliver’s chest, causing him tremendous agony before Harris kneed him in the head, concussing him and sending him to the ground.

He sensed Nia behind him, anticipating her next strike correctly by ducking under the punch that was meant to take off his head. He spun around and tried to swing his bow at her, but she caught the strike, pulling the bow out of his arm and throwing it away. The action compromised her defensive positioning, leaving her wide open for a clean punch to the head from Harris’ metal arm.

The strike completely dazed her. He grabbed her by her hair, pulling her to a concrete pillar before smashing her head through it. With both Nia and Oliver dealt with, he finally could do what he’d come here to do. What he’d wanted to do for the past 19 months. He picked up his blade before walking to Kara, who was still weakened, lying on the floor. He knelt over her body and looked into her eyes.

He had envisioned and dreamt about this moment for the longest time, but now, as he readied himself to drive his blade into her chest, he felt the smallest amount of remorse that he possibly could for her. He always thought he’d have the resolve to do it, never expecting that he’d hesitate.

But he realised that it was too late for remorse, prompting him to raise his blade.

* * *

Oliver watched as Harris knelt over Kara with a sword in hand. He had to stop him. He had to at least try but having been wounded and several meters away from them, he had no idea what to do…

Until he felt his hand come across a thin metal gadget. An arrow. He looked to the space around him, and he saw Harris’ bow only a few feet away from him.

He hadn’t even held a bow in nearly two years, let alone taken aim with one and fired an arrow. He was hopelessly out of practice and from that came self-doubting questions. What if his years of muscle memory had been lost? What if he missed?

But he knew that there was only one way to find the answers to these questions, so he rose to his feet and sprinted towards the bow. He never took his eye off of Harris, watching as he raised the blade and prepared to drive it through Kara’s chest. He leapt towards the bow, rolling to it before picking it up and nocking the arrow.

He fired.

Those split-seconds that it travelled through the air seemed like hours, as Oliver watched it edge closer to its target. Inch, by inch, by inch, by inch.

_Clang._

* * *

Harris was startled as the blade was knocked out of his hand by an arrow, raising his eyes to see Oliver Queen holding his bow. His anger was only bolstered by this sight, as he then raised his metal arm to bring it down on Kara’s face. With the state that she was in right now, one punch had the potential to kill her.

But unlike Oliver’s arrow, Harris’ fist never met its target as a glowing blue lasso wrapped around his arm, pulling it back.

Nia had to pull with all of her strength to restrain his arm. Even that didn’t waver Harris’ determination, as he pressed down on Kara’s throat with his left hand, trying to choke her to death.

Oliver ran to stop it from happening but Harris lifted his left hand momentarily to strike Oliver on his injured left leg before bringing it back to Kara’s throat. Oliver crawled to behind Harris, wrapping one arm around his neck with the other under his armpit to pull his arm up away from Kara’s throat.

Oliver squeezed and pulled with all of his strength but he barely budged the hand around Kara’s throat.

“Ethan, stop! You don’t have to do this!” He pleaded with him, this being the only card he had left to play, “Think of Julia!” screamed Oliver, hoping that evoking his wife’s name would have some effect on him.

“I am thinking of her!”

“Is this what she would have wanted?! Is this what your son would have wanted? Imagine if they could see you now!”

“They’re not here. She still is.”

“Killing her won’t accomplish anything! It won’t bring her back, Ethan. It won’t.”

Oliver knew his words were working, as he felt Harris losing his strength. “It’s too late. I can’t stop now.”

“It’s never too late to do the right thing. Never.”

After a few moments, Kara found herself able to breathe again as the pressure on her throat was relieved. Oliver let go of Harris’ neck and Nia retracted her lassos. Harris stepped off Kara, allowing Oliver and Nia to help her to her feet and walk away. They needed to leave right now but her powers were yet to return. Nia opened a compartment on the belt of her suit and pulled out Kara’s retracted Kryptonite Suit, putting it on her chest. It began to manifest, wrapping around Kara and returning her strength. Just before Kara was about to take flight, Oliver stopped her.

“Come back for me,” he said, walking away before she had a chance to argue. He walked back to Ethan, who was on his knees, distraught.

“There’s no coming back from this. They’re going to kill me anyway,” said Ethan.

“Nobody dies tonight. Nobody.”

Oliver offered a hand to him, helping him to his feet. Not long after, Kara returned with J’onn J’onzz, putting out the flames before taking Oliver and Harris back to the DEO.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver speaks to Harris now that he is in DEO custody.

Kara healed and regained her powers very easily with her suit but Oliver had to have a bit more thorough medical examination upon returning to the DEO. He wasn’t hurt too bad but he now had several stitches embedded in his chest to seal the laceration. Another scar to add to the seemingly endless collection. He’d already thought out an excuse to explain the bruises on his face to City Council, planning to say that things got a bit rowdy in a self-defence training class. An hour removed from the fight in the building, Oliver decided that it was finally time to pay Harris a visit in his holding cell.

Oliver entered the room with his hands behind his back, stepping in front of Harris’ cell. He was seated on the floor, weeping with his head in his knees. His metal arm hung in a sling. Removing it would require a lengthy operation, so they settled with a device which disabled it for now. He noticed Oliver, lifting his head to look up at him. Oliver saw a man ashamed of what he’d become, seeing in his eyes a genuine remorse for his actions.

Harris wiped his eyes before speaking. “I know an apology doesn’t mean much, but will you please tell her that I’m sorry. For everything that I’ve done.”

Oliver nodded. “Ethan, I’m going to need you to tell me everything.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with how you got your hands on kryptonite.”

“They came to me three months after Julia died. They said that they could give me the tools to kill Supergirl, all they wanted in return was for me to do it. They trained me, they gave me the arm and the kryptonite.”

“These are the same people who you said were going to kill you?” He nodded. “Who are they?” asked Oliver.

“I don’t really know. I only have their name… _Leviathan_.”

“Why do they want Supergirl dead?”

“They have plans. I don’t know what they are but they’re big and they don’t want Supergirl to interfere with them.”

Oliver took a deep breath, digesting the information before speaking further. “You quoted the Bible back in the building. Are you a Christian?”

“I used to be. With what I’ve done, I don’t think I can call myself one anymore.”

Oliver finally brought his hands around, revealing himself to be holding a thick book. Ethan stood up and looked closer, seeing that it was a Bible. Oliver placed it through a hatch in the cell wall, giving it to Harris.

“It may not seem like it now but one day, you’ll find a way to forgive yourself for this,” said Oliver. “Acts 3. Verse 19.”

Harris opened the bible and turned to the verse.

_Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord._

“Thank you,” he said to Oliver, who nodded, before making his way to the exit.

* * *

After relaying the information about Leviathan to Alex, Oliver joined Kara on the balcony of the DEO.

“Harris said he’s sorry, for what it’s worth,” he said as he approached her.

“Are you okay?” she asked, placing a hand on his chest where he’d been cut.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yeah. It’s always horrible when I get exposed to kryptonite but I’m back to normal now.”

“I wasn’t talking physically.”

Kara sighed. “I just can’t stop thinking about his wife. How different things would have turned out if I’d saved her.”

“You can’t save everyone, Kara. It’s part of the job.”

“But is it wrong for me to feel like I have to?”

“No. But a wise woman once told me that you need to learn to how to forgive yourself. And that it’s possible, even if you don’t think it is.”

He managed to bring a smile to her face by quoting her own words. “Are you heeding those words yourself?”

“Getting there,” replied Oliver. Kara smiled, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before he returned to Earth-1.


End file.
